NOTRE DAME PUSHES BACK OPENING OF NEW SCHOOL

Notre Dame High School students will get two extra days of summer this week while construction and maintenance crews put the finishing touches on the new building.

Classes will begin at 8 a.m. Friday, two days later than originally scheduled, said business manager Robert McGahan. Delivery problems for some furniture and equipment and several unfinished construction projects are blamed for the delayed opening.

Teachers and administrators are moving equipment, furnishings and supplies into rooms as contractors finish the building. Relocation into the new school's 30 classrooms and other offices should be completed within the next few days, McGahan said.

"We just basically weren't altogether ready to go so we pushed it back a couple of days," McGahan said. "Some of the rooms weren't cleaned and there was also a need for some lead time for teachers to get ready."

Although somewhat disappointing, McGahan said the late opening won't affect the school calendar. Students and parents have been notified by telephone, and information is also being distributed through local and regional media.

The new school, a 114,000-square-foot facility, will occupy about 25 of the nearly 48 acres situated along Route K that were donated to the Cape Girardeau-Springfield Diocese by the James and Wanda Drury Family Trust. The project, worth $6.7 million, was financed by a capital campaign and is the largest ever undertaken through the Cape Girardeau-Springfield Diocese.

The new school can accommodate about 600 students, nearly double the old school's capacity, McGahan said. Some 378 students are enrolled, a slight increase from last year.