Area students prepare to head back to school - Lind-Ritzville Schools plan for yearlong consolidation

Students throughout the region are gearing up to head back to school in the upcoming week.

Locally, the Lind-Ritzville Cooperative Schools and Washtucna School District will start school on Monday, Aug. 27. Parents of Lind and Ritzville students are reminded it is late start Monday, and school will begin at 9:35 a.m.

For students in the LaCrosse and Sprague school districts, classes will resume on Wednesday, Aug. 29.

In the Lind-Ritzville Districts, there will be multiple changes occurring this school year, which is due to the upcoming remodel of Lind-Ritzville High School (LRHS).

Due to the construction at LRHS, middle school and high school students will be attending classes in Lind at the Lind-Ritzville Middle School (LRMS) building.

Seventh and eighth grade students within the Lind and Ritzville School Districts will continue to attend classes in the LRMS building with the high school students.

Sixth grade students will remain in their respective districts for classes this year, which will mean classes in either Ritzville Grade School or Lind Elementary School.

Transportation from Ritzville is available, and there are two additional buses running from Gilson Gym to the LRMS building.

These buses will return students to Ritzville as well, leaving Lind at 3:30 p.m.

High school students who are driving to Lind are asked to utilize Sixth Street instead of E Street in order to reduce traffic flow in front of the school. The student parking lot is also located off of Sixth Street. There will be signage marking the lot.

At the LRMS building, the middle school students will use the main entrance at the beginning of the school day while high school students will use the gym access entrance. The gym entrance will be staffed and monitored as an additional security and safety measure.

The Ritzville School District office will remain in Ritzville, and will be located out of the Ritzville Grade School office.

Bids for the LRHS remodel project will be opened on Aug. 23, and then a timeline will be established with the construction company.

A complete list of bus routes for Lind and Ritzville students can be found in the “Back to School” tab, published in the Aug. 16 edition of The Journal. Additional copies are also available at the school offices.

Any parent who needs to complete school supply shopping can find a list at http://lrschools.org.

For updated information regarding events and activities at area schools, visit the schools’ websites or Facebook pages.

The Lind, Ritzville and LaCrosse schools currently have active Facebook pages for parents, students and community members.