RED CEDAR ELEMENTARY TO OPEN IN SPRING OF 2009

BLUFFTON -- Red Cedar Elementary, Bluffton's newest school, now is set to open in March 2009, seven months later than originally planned. It's also expected to cost $3 million more than originally budgeted.

That's because the size of the school has been increased to hold 800 students rather than the 650 it was being built to accommodate.

The latest design features a two-story wing for second- through fifth-graders and a separate one-story wing for younger students. (continued below)

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The school will draw students from M.C. Riley and Okatie elementary schools when it's complete. But, the delay in opening might mean the district will have to buy more mobile classrooms for those two schools.

Both of those schools already are overcrowded and have hundreds of students taught in mobile classrooms.

M.C. Riley Elementary has a capacity of 594 students, but more than 860 are enrolled. Okatie Elementary's capacity is 550 students, but 800 are enrolled.

District officials will decide next summer whether to move students into the new school during the remaining two to three months of the 2008-09 academic year or wait until the following academic year begins, said John Williams, assistant superintendent for information services.

"March (2009) is our target date," he said. "We might get done early, in which case a January opening might make sense."

The school will likely open on the district's traditional calendar.

When voters gave the district the go-ahead to borrow $16.2 million to build the school in a May 2006 referendum, the school was to open in August 2008 and house 650 students. more>