GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Students are back at one Grand Rapids elementary school after its start date was pushed back due to construction. But the renovations still aren’t quite complete yet.

Prior to the start of the school year, Grand Rapids Montessori Elementary School pushed its start date back twice due to construction delays and reports of four workers in the building getting sick.

The third air quality test for nuisance dust at Montessori Elementary came back normal. 

A spokesperson for Grand Rapids Public Schools said the construction is in the final stages, with cosmetic touch-ups that should be completed within the next two to three months.

But right now, construction is still underway at the Grand Rapids Montessori Elementary School two weeks into the school year. Work was supposed to be finished over the summer. 

Leon Hendrix, a GRPS spokesperson, said it’s not quite there yet, but it’s close. 

“Sometimes it doesn’t always fit in a summer vacation window, but we’ve been able to work around these projects,” said Hendrix. 

Big projects like installing a new HVAC cooling and heating system in the decades-old school building and several others are also in the works. 

“Our hope though is between the efforts we’re putting in now and the investment we hope our community provides through the bond initiative, that we’ll be able to make sure that all of our buildings have HVAC and air conditioning systems,” said Hendrix.

Like other schools, the Montessori Elementary is still waiting for new HVAC systems, but unlike other GRPS schools, construction at the Montessori Elementary is now set to be completed by late fall. 

In the meantime students are back in class after results from air quality tests for asbestos, lead and particulate, or nuisance dust, came back negative. 

“It was within normal limits set by the National Occupational Health and Safety Administration,” Hendrix said. “We also ran air scrubbers, high powered air filtration devices, in the building. We ran them for more than 24 hours just to try to get some of that dust in the air.”

The dust may have contributed to four reports of workers getting sick, but Hendrix said they are back to work.

“We had some people come up with some minor respiratory feeling, some coughing, some shortness of breath so that made us pause and reevaluate things for our staff and scholars.”

Construction crews are still working hard, aiming to finish the last touch-ups in the school by November. 

“Right now, it’s really just cosmetic-type construction that’s on the way, painting, really trying to make the project that the lion’s share took place over the summer look nice and shiny and new the way we want it to appear,” Hendrix said. 

GRPS said other schools have the new HVAC systems on site and they are working on getting them installed and online.