Construction at the new Boyd E. Smith Elementary School is almost finished. School begins on Aug. 24, 2016.

Construction at the new Boyd E. Smith Elementary School is almost finished. School begins on Aug. 24, 2016.
By Kelly Cantwell
Editor

The end of construction on Boyd E. Smith and Seipelt elementary schools is in sight.

The Milford Board of Education approved a resolution to accept funding from the Ohio Facilities Commission to build new versions of both schools on May 16, 2013.

On May 2, 2015, the district held two groundbreaking ceremonies for the schools.

“We are on schedule to open both of them here for school this August,” said Jeff Johnson, operations manager.

Seiplet is further along than Boyd, largely because Turner Construction could not begin site work until after school let out, as Boyd is being built on the same site as the first Boyd Elementary.

The parking lots are in and the sidewalks are done at Seiplet. They have been testing the mechanical systems and doing commissioning to make sure the systems work as designed, said Johnson.

The original Boyd was demolished a week after school let out. It took about four days for the building to be demolished and some additional time to get rid of the demolished material. The location of the original Boyd is where the parking lot is being put in.

Now much of the work is also odds and ends, Johnson said, such as cleaning, which they finished at Seipelt a couple weeks ago. Furniture was scheduled to start being installed in Seipelt on July 25 and will come into Boyd during the first week of August.

Everything is on schedule, but there is not a set move in date. Johnson is hopeful that teachers will be able to get into Seipelt the end of the second or beginning of the third week of August, but teachers at Boyd will likely not be able to get in until Aug. 19. School begins Aug. 24.

“I feel like we’re in a good place,” Johnson said, adding that Turner has done a good job keeping things on schedule.

There is still a lot of work to be done, but Johnson is enjoying seeing things in the building and seeing the finishing touches that give the building some character.

“It’s starting to get exciting,” Johnson said.

Each day it looks more like a new school, rather than just a building.

“That’s been kind of fun,” Johnson said.

The district will hold an open house for each building to give the community an opportunity to see them. The open house at Seipelt will be on Sept. 13 from 5-7 p.m. and the open house at Boyd will be on Sept. 15 from 5-7 p.m.

Both open houses will include a short program, a tour and more.

“We’re excited about it,” Johnson said.