Construction of a different sort is ongoing as another school year begins in Ely.
Students head back to class and the school campus Tuesday morning, amid continuing work on the Harvey Street Project.
Yet while the project moves forward, access to Harvey Street will be available for parents, students and staff heading to school.
The drop-off and pickup circle will be accessible, school officials said this week, and Harvey Street will be open to traffic in front of the school.
Traffic flow and direction will be normal.
Road construction marks the start of this school year after several years where construction on the campus was either ongoing or finishing up, thanks both to a better than $20 million improvement project authorized by a 2020 voter referendum and several million dollars in the “Phase 2 Improvement Project,” which followed.
Even more construction is likely in 2026, given a $5.25 million state allocation to improve the district’s athletic facilities.
Inside the school buildings, enrollment is again expected to decline.
Ely’s K-12 population was as high as 598 students as recently as the fall of 2017, but a report earlier in the summer showed current enrollment at 511.
Those numbers could fluctuate given transfers in and out of the district, and a full enrollment report is coming at the school board’s September meeting.
The Ely district authorized numerous budget cuts last spring, and because of enrollment four different grades - Kindergarten, third, fourth and sixth - are down to a single classroom section.
The incoming kindergarten class is expected to have 25 students, with a classroom teacher and an assistant with a teaching degree.
The third, fourth and sixth grade classes will all be split for core classes, and in sixth grade for electives.
