Findlay Elementary School Opening Pushed Back To January

White County school officials expect to move into the new Findlay Elementary building by the beginning of January.

Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said bad weather kept the school from opening in time for the new academic year.

“Originally the plan, obviously, was to get it done for this school year. But the torrential rain that we’ve had and the record-setting rainfall that we had this year really set the project back,” Dronebarger said. “We were hoping to get in around fall break, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to make it. But, we will get in there by the first of the year.”

Dronebarger said despite the delays, construction is expected to completed in November.

“The school is coming out of the ground,” Dronebarger said. “All the structural walls are done, all the roof decking is on the school and quite a bit is going on on the inside. We’re seeing lots of progress,and right now the completion date is set for early November, which puts us opening the school in the first of the new year.”

Dronebarger said the new building will include enough room for potential growth in the student population over the next decade.

“In the next 10-15 years, we expect to see growth in the north end of the county as Cookeville continues to grow,” Dronebarger said. “As the school in that area absorbs more students, we built Findlay large enough to where if we needed to rezone some folks, they could absorb that population as well.”

Following the move, Dronebarger said the school system will utilize the old Findlay Elementary as its new central office, while the current administrative office will be retained by the City of Sparta.