LEWISTON — Summer will be extended for Lewiston Middle School’s 700-plus students.

The middle school will open after Labor Day on Tuesday, Sept. 2, instead of  Wednesday, Aug. 27, Superintendent Bill Webster said Tuesday.

All other Lewiston School Department students begin school as scheduled on Aug. 27. “This only relates to the middle school,” Webster said.

Construction days may be more popular with students than snow days. The three days students miss won’t have to be made up, Webster said.

The school’s ongoing $9 million renovation and expansion project means classrooms aren’t ready. Teachers haven’t been able to get into them, and won’t until Monday.

That wouldn’t give them enough time to get their rooms ready for Wednesday, Webster said.

“We regret having to do this, but it’s the right thing to do for students and teachers,” he said.

Normally teachers are in their classrooms days or weeks before school starts getting ready. The rooms are now barren, with construction workers putting in the finishing touches.

Classrooms have no furniture, nothing on the walls. There’s no supplies. “They have no teaching materials out. Teachers need to organize their rooms, their instructional materials on the shelves,” Webster said. “There are no books and bookcases.”

If the rooms were accessible, many teachers would spend time developing a comfort level with their new rooms to create a good learning environment. Opening on Aug. 27 would create a stressful environment for teachers, Webster said. “We said let’s let them do their jobs and greet their students (when the rooms are ready). We know the classrooms will be in good shape Sept. 2.”

What happened is the school’s construction was going well and ahead of schedule.

All of the classrooms were scheduled to be remodeled by winter. With work running ahead, the decision was made to renovate classrooms before school began. But crews are running a few days short.

The wait will be worth it, Webster said.

“If you walk through the building now, classrooms are so close to being completely renovated. They look absolutely beautiful. There are new lights, new ceiling tiles, electronic systems, a television in front of every room, white boards.”

There’s no more holes in the walls, peeling paint, exposed utility pipes. Rooms have fresh painted walls.

All of the renovation and expansion will be done by December, Webster said. “There’ll be a big celebration, an open house in January.”

The reason the project has gone so well, on budget and ahead of schedule, is due to hard work of Hebert Construction, Webster said. “They have done a wonderful job staging the construction” so school could be conducted last year while crews built and renovated.

The historic building, originally built as Lewiston High School, is something residents can take pride in, Webster said.

“We’re upgrading and renovating and expanding our middle school for literally a small fraction of the cost of a new facility.” The $9 million project – which was approved by voters and is being paid by city taxpayers with no state money – is costing less than new. A new middle school for 800-plus students would cost $50 million, Webster said.

Parents and students will find out about the delayed first day of school via a school messenger system that will call every parent as well as letters mailed home. “We’ll do our best to communicate with everybody,” Webster said.

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