Vacant elementary in Billings, Mont., will reopen this summer
The Billings (Mont.) district plans to reopen an elementary school that has been vacant for many years.
KTVQ-TV reports that the building that housed Rimrock Elementary School has been renovated and will open in August as the Rimrock Learning Center.
The campus will house the district's special education program for children ages 3 to 5 who have disabilities.
“We're just thrilled to have a home and the construction has been amazing,” says Judy Povilaitis, executive director of special education for the district. “The teachers are just overjoyed with the amount of space that they have."
The program will uses six classrooms in the east wing.
"It's great not watching this building rot away,” says Scott Reiter, the district's executive director of facilities. “Even the neighbors around here seem excited and happy that something's going on here and we're able to put the building to use."
Rimrock Elementary opened in 1953 and was closed in 2001 in a cost-saving move for the district.
For a short time, the campus also housed the Head Start program.
MORE. YouTube video from KTVQ-TV:
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Mike Kennedy
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Mike Kennedy has been writing about education for American School & University since 1999. He also has reported on schools and other topics for The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Times and City News Bureau of Chicago. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.