Southland students will be getting an early jump on the school year.

Because of the upcoming renovations to the school to accommodate the elementary school’s move from Rose Creek to Adams, Southland will begin classes starting Monday with the final day of the school year being May 8, 2020.

“We begin construction this fall on some of the new structure. They essentially have three weeks longer in the summer next year (for construction),” said Scott Hall, Southland High School principal.

The decision to move the school year up was made last spring and since then the district has been putting information out about the changes and communicating with area schools about how this could affect events including volleyball and basketball home games that are played in Adams.

“The way the plans are now, we will lose one of our entry doors on the south end,” Hall said. “We will still have access to the north end gyms, but we haven’t had to change schedules.”

Among the temporary changes include moving the media center to new classroom space for the year.

The district is still waiting on some bids, and Hall declined to say specifically when groundbreaking for the construction might take place.

“I don’t have a 100 percent date for the groundbreaking, but maybe mid-September,” he said.

On Nov. 8, 2018, voters in the Southland School District approved a bond referendum for $15.8 million to renovate the high school in Adams to accommodate the elementary’s move from Rose Creek.

The elementary’s last year in Rose Creek was this last school year.