Grand Junction High School students get four extra days of summer time due to the move to the new building.
The 2024-2025 school year will begin on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, which is later than other schools in the district that begin on Aug. 7. That comes after the current school year ends on Tuesday, May 21, two days earlier than other schools.
“When a new school building opens, which doesn’t happen often, we traditionally provide additional time for teachers and staff to move in and get adjusted to the new building before the students enter the space,” Mesa Valley School District 51 Superintendent Brian Hill wrote in an e-mail to GJHS Principal Jory Sorensen.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new building is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 3. Freshman Orientation is Aug. 8 from 8 a.m. to noon and back-to-school night will be that same evening, giving students a chance to learn the inside layout of the new building the day before school begins.
“With the new GJHS, because construction will still be ongoing into the summer, and teachers and staff will be on break, we are providing them with time at the beginning of the school year to move in and adjust to the new campus,” Hill wrote in the same e-mail.
The extra days at the end of this school year are for packing and cleaning out the old building, which will begin being demolished in late May. The extra days at the start of the 2024-25 year are for teachers to learn the new building, including new classroom technology.
