After construction processes plagued by supply chain issues, labor shortages, cost escalations and unexpected water/drainage issues, all three of Weber School District’s new schools — Haven Bay Elementary (West Haven), Mountain View Junior High (West Haven) and West Field High School (Taylor) — have officially welcomed students into their freshly-laid hallways.

Mountain View opened as expected on the district’s first day of school Aug. 21, while West Field opened on Sept. 3 and Haven Bay held its first classes in the new school building Monday after the district was forced to send students to neighboring Hooper and Kanesville elementary schools to begin the academic year.

WSD spokesman Lane Findlay told the Standard-Examiner that adding three new schools — and completely rebuilding a fourth in Roosevelt Elementary (Washington Terrace) — at the same time was an incredible undertaking. He called it “unprecedented,” noting that three decades had passed since Fremont High School became the district’s last new high school building in 1994.

“Those are big projects,” he said. “They’re impactful to those communities. … It has been a busy, busy summer just trying to get these schools ready to open. But we’re fortunate we’re able to get kids in there now. We’ve got classes going and, now that we’re settled in, we can work on getting those buildings finished up.”

Although the district has been awarded occupancy of all three buildings and opened their doors, work will continue for at least the next few months.

In the case of Haven Bay, a two-story facility, classroom areas and offices on the main level are essentially complete. However, work continues on the gymnasium, the building’s second level and the school’s grounds (save for the completed playground). Findlay said the second story, which includes classroom pods, is “completely sectioned off” and is “closed to staff and students” because it will take a couple months to finish the area.

At West Field, the school’s auditorium is closed and will likely remain so for the next several weeks as work is completed. The fieldhouse is also still under construction. Meanwhile, finishing touches are being applied at Mountain View, as well as in the “open” areas of the other two schools.

Even as students and faculty members settle into their new digs, though, some parents and children have faced challenges actually getting to and from school.

“Whenever you build a new school, you’ve created a new walk zone. And then, of course, outside that walk zone is your bus zone; your transportation areas,” Findlay said. “It has been incredibly challenging as far as the transportation piece with just trying to accommodate busing and then those walk-zone areas, trying to work with our city partners or the county or UDOT because school districts do not have any authority off of school properties.”

Findlay noted that the district and its new schools are working with municipalities as well as state and county agencies to identify both the walking routes kids are taking and what infrastructure needs to be improved to accommodate them.

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