District excited to welcome students in new building

Teachers and staff are busy preparing for the start of the new school year Sept. 8.

The Sept. 8 start is a little later start than in recent years for the Tea Area School District. However, it was not driven by the Sioux Falls vote to start after Labor Day. Tea Area superintendent Jennifer Lowery said they decided to start in September so they could finish construction on the new elementary — Frontier Elementary (pictured above) located at 2700 S. Lancaster Dr., Sioux Falls, as well as other construction projects on the original elementary – Legacy Elementary located at 500 West Charish St., Tea.

“Frontier Elementary has its teachers in it and it’s going to give them about a week and a half to get acclimated to their rooms. Here in town we’re finishing up the original parking lot,” Lowery said.

Teachers in the new elementary had their first day to set up their classrooms Aug. 26. Frontier Elementary principal Kristi Nelson said they are nearly ready for students and will be ready to teach students Sept. 8.

The new school building is fully carpeted except for the multipurpose room where they will eat lunch and have gym. The library got books last week and the computer lab has the computers set up. Their curriculum is in place. Teachers are busy unpacking and organizing their classrooms. Playground equipment was scheduled for installation during the first week of September. Landscaping will be done later in September.

The school will house one section of each grade junior kindergarten through fourth grade. They also have rooms for music, speech, title, ESL, special education and counseling.

Nelson and Lowery said they have a few things to get ready and figured out, but the school will be ready by the time school starts.

“The kids will come. We will teach them. It will be fine. It’s just about taking care of the kids and building that culture,” Lowery said.

Construction at Legacy Elementary will continue during the school year. They are adding 14 classrooms, an office complex, security entrance, cafetorium and kitchen.