Mankato Area Public Schools spring construction update

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - As weather warms and winter finally retreats, construction has resumed on buildings all across the Mankato school district.

Work has been been ongoing on elementary schools like Hoover and Kennedy for about a month.

Crews are building secure entrances on the buildings, and once school lets out in late May upgrades to HVAC systems will begin.

Those projects are expected to finish before school returns in the fall, but for now crews are working around classes and students working to wrap up the school year.

“They’ve been great. There’s been some noise, some things that have had to happen due to some demo and some site work. But both principals at both sites have been great, the staff and the students, even checking in with the students too, when I’m hearing things that are a little bit noisy to make sure they’re fine,” said the district’s Director of Facilities Scott Kaminski.

Mankato West is entering its second full year of construction, and has been operating around students all year long.

Work on renovating the new gym space will begin once the school year is finished, and work on the Eagle Lake school will begin then as well.

Project leaders said that they’re hopeful that nice weather will keep the projects on track, but as with al, construction projects, timelines are subject to change.

“These summer slams are always pretty pressing with the amount of work that needs to be done in the short amount of time to make sure we’re ready for teachers and students to show up the next fall so any little bit we can do to kickstart that and make sure we’re ready to rock, we’ll take,” Kaminski said.

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