The many halls of the new Liberty-Eylau Elementary School echo with the sounds of workers drilling and sawing as they complete the final phase of construction on the building.
Also known as the Rock School, it's scheduled to open in August, just in time for the 2018-19 school year.
Scott Hughes with Buford Thompson Construction gave an update on the project Thursday at the school board meeting.
He said sidewalks are being completed, along with the front parking lot, and that flooring is complete in the administration area and most of the classrooms. The countertop and pass-through window in the reception area should be installed soon, he said.
"In the main hallway right outside there, all the diagonal ceiling grid has been installed. It's going to look pretty sharp," he said. "We have the natural light coming in from above and the lights casting on the upper side of the deck, and it's all painted out and looking nice."
District spokesman Matt Fry said the grid, which hangs from the ceiling in the open space, will hold the tiles students from the first-grade Venture classes have painted over the years.
"It's just kind of an art project," he said. "They were all over the building at the other school. With the grid, we found a way to highlight that art. The ones from the other school are wrapped in plastic, and they will probably start putting them up next week."
Fry added that some of the older ones will be given to their creators.
"The seniors this next year made tiles in 2008," he said. "We will pull them out and give them to the seniors this year as a graduation thing for them."
Further down the main hallway and in all four sections, colorful multipurpose laminate lines the walls and creates a space where teachers can display students' work.
Carpet has also been laid in the library, which will feature a circular librarian's desk, an open glass wall on the south side and a reading nook with benches in the far left corner of the room.
Other rooms- including the learning lab, music and art rooms-are also close to completion, along with the gym, which is attached to the music room and features a stage on the east side.
"We've got all the wood floor down; we've got two coats of sealant on it," Hughes said. "They're going to start next week on the striping and the logo."
Terrazzo floor tiles are also going down in the hallways and a fire-suppression system has been put in the kitchen, he said.
"Looking ahead at the next 30 days, we will have the asphalt finished and aluminum canopies are coming in Monday," Hughes said. "We will start on the west side and follow up on the east side. Doors and hardware are coming in this week, and it will take two weeks to hang all the doors and put all the hardware on."
Hughes said the most pressing jobs are the final grading and topsoil work, painting the ceilings and the flooring.
"Thirty days from now, we'll be working on the stage curtains," he said. "We've got to hold off on doing the last few things in the stage area because it's adjacent to the wood floor."
Fry said he plans to hold a walk-through for trustees and administration prior to the grand opening in August.
Completing construction is the final phase of improvements the district has done with the $20.9 million bond voters approved in 2016. Other projects included a new CTE building at the high school, new turf and track at Harris Field, a new roof at the middle school, additional classrooms at the Pre-K building and heating and air systems upgrades districtwide.