Orange Beach, Ala. – (OBA) – Both island school systems are coming down to the wire with new construction on the campus of each elementary school in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores as the start of school approaches. Students report on Aug. 8 in Gulf Shores and Aug. 9 in Orange Beach.

“Everything is as on track as it can possibly be,” Orange Beach Superintendent Randy Wilkes said. “There are just a couple of things that could give us a little bit of angst at the last minute. It’s really going to come down to the last day.”

“We think we’ll have our occupancy inspection on Aug. 7, which is the day before school starts,” Gulf Shores Superintendent Matt Akin said. “If it plays out like that, we’ll still be moving in the first week of school. We’ve got a backup plan with other classrooms where those classes could meet for the first few days.”

Orange Beach is adding a cafetorium and media center on the south end of the elementary campus. In Gulf Shores, an eight-classroom addition is nearing completion as well.

“There’s a meeting (July 28) tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the contractor just to talk about the ‘what ifs,’” Wilkes said. “We still lack exterior paint, asphalt. In this job, there are two connectors. One that connects the new building to the elementary school. And then there’s the connector between the 100 and 300 wings. They are pretty close to being completed.”

His main concern is having the cafeteria ready to serve lunch to incoming students.

“Probably the install of the cafeteria equipment will be pivotal in getting in there on Aug. 9 when we have kids,” Wilkes said. “I’ve got one kettle that’s got to come over. We could start without that kettle. I also have a little bit of concern about a boiler with the chiller system that’s not functioning like it needs to.”

Also, Wilkes said getting asphalt on the ground will make all the other jobs that need finishing up easier.

“You know the big thing is just getting the asphalt done, so we have a good surface to move all the goods,” Wilkes said. “All the smaller pieces of equipment, all the utensils and so forth. Getting the asphalt down next week, and we may have to work the weekend to get it done. We may have to work after school and overtime or on the weekends regardless of when it gets completed at this point. Naturally, I’d like to do it when there’s not children there.”

In Gulf Shores, Akin says work there continues on flooring and finishing out the restrooms.

“It’s been a tough time with construction,” Akin said. “The contractor’s done a great job it’s just we had a holdup on an electrical panel that put us back a little bit. Right now, they are putting in flooring starting today and through the weekend. They’ll be finishing putting tiles in the ceilings. Just a lot of finish-up stuff. The big thing is setting fixtures in the restrooms and putting flooring in.

They are ready to be set, and I think they said that starts Monday.”

Gulf Shores High School will add about 60 students and the middle school will have about the same number as the 2022-23 school year, Akin said.

“The elementary is up probably 15 or 20 students so far,” Akin said. “That all depends on how big your kindergarten class is, but we’ve grown a decent amount over the summer. Middle school lost a large class, so they are about equal to where they were last year. The middle class that’s moving up was about 200 kids, and we gained a class of 180 kids. Overall, that probably puts us up 4 or 5 percent.”