Brentwood elementary school opening delayed until January

Brentwood Elementary School set to open in January after fall delay, rooftop playground nearly done Construction and weather delays have pushed the opening of Brentwood Elementary School's new consolidated building to January, with progress on the project continuing steadily. The new consolidated Brentwood Elementary School building, originally planned to open for the first day of school this fall, is now scheduled to open in January, according to the school district. Superintendent Dr. Amy Burch said construction is progressing well. "The rooftop playground is nearly complete. We have furniture coming on Friday, so then we'll really focus on the front of the building, the canopy and the landscaping," Burch said. Advertisement The project has been years in the making, with construction beginning in October 2024. The idea to consolidate the school dates back even further, with the pandemic accelerating plans. "It was an opportunity for us to reimagine what we wanted the elementary experience to be," Burch said. "We started this process and this discussion in 2017. We had a feasibility study completed at that time," she added. The district learned in June that the building would not be ready for the fall semester. While disappointing, Burch emphasized that the district would not rush the project. "We're not going to sacrifice quality of the learning environment or safety of anybody, for that matter," Burch said. Although the building will be ready before January, state regulations prohibit moving into a new school building midsemester. "So, we are planning for a soft opening in December, and what I mean by that is we'll have some community events and some family events in the building," Burch said. Students will begin the semester with two days of remote learning in January before moving into the new building on Jan. 6.