Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't....open.
The slightly altered catch phrase from "Friday Night Lights," the movie and TV series based on the football team at Permian High School in Odessa, Texas, will apply for the next two weeks at the school because of construction delays.
After evaluating the progress of construction, Tom Crowe, superintendent of the Ector County (Texas) district, has decided to postpone the start of the academic year at Permian High by two weeks. Crowe determined that the campus will not be ready in time for students and staff to begin classes on Aug. 24. The delay of classes until Sept. 8 also will apply to Odessa High School, where construction is further along than at Permian, but still not completed.
“I have been around a long time, and I have been through a lot of building projects,” Crowe says. “It only took a few minutes to know I did not want kids and our staff in there yet.”
To make up the missed instructional time, Ector County will lengthen the high school day by 25 minutes per day throughout the year. At both high schools, classes will start at 8:40 a.m., and end at 4:25 p.m.
The district says weather delays, workforce challenges, and an unexpected holdup in the delivery of glass and bricks derailed the construction timeline.
Ector County is expanding Odessa and Permian high schools to accommodate ninth-grade students.
The district is converting from a junior high to a middle school model; sixth-graders are moving to what were junior high schools, and ninth-graders are moving to the high schools.
