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Port Neches-Groves Independent School District officials announced Friday afternoon that there will be a delay in the start of the school year for the district’s youngest students.

“In order to give our Port Neches and Groves Primary staff members more preparation time, we are delaying the start of both PNGISD Primary campuses until Monday, Aug. 21,” a district release stated.

“All other campuses will start on Thursday, Aug. 17 as scheduled. We thank you for your patience and understanding. We can’t wait to have everyone back!”

In 2019, voters in the district approved a $130 million bond issue consolidating seven existing schools into four new buildings.

The four include Groves Primary School, located where the former Groves Elementary was on Cleveland Avenue; Port Neches Primary School, located at the site of the former Ridgewood campus on Merriman Street; Groves Intermediate, and Port Neches Intermediate, located at the site of the former Woodcrest campus on Heisler Street.

In late July, Deputy Superintendent Julie Gauthier told Port Arthur Newsmedia school construction is complete at the intermediate campuses, with contractors going over a punch list. The primary schools, at the time, were completing the final steps before teachers were to move in this month.

The district used two contractors for the construction: SEDALCO Construction Services for the primary schools and Cadence McShane Construction for the intermediate schools.

Port Arthur Newsmedia toured Groves Primary School on Monday afternoon, visiting with Principal Joe Cegielski and Assistant Principal Tricia Sandell. At the time, all personnel at the site were working hard to get the school ready for Aug. 17.

“Everyone is really excited, and everybody’s spirits are really, really good,” Cegielski said Monday. “And we’re seeing great changes everyday. Yes, there’s going to be a couple of things not finished when we get started, but nothing that’s going to be critical to any of the logistics of the building.”

Just over an hour after the announcement via social media of the Port Neches-Groves campus start day delay, Nederland Independent School District shared a release stating the 2023-24 school year would start Aug. 17 as scheduled.

Some families in Nederland had expressed concerns that campus construction would delay the start for Nederland, as well.

 Below is an overview of the days leading up to the start of school, according to Nederland ISD officials:

· All dirt on elementary campuses will be leveled by this weekend.

· All elementary school grounds will be mowed this weekend.

· All cabinets at elementary schools will be installed by Monday afternoon.

· Internet service should be up at Langham by Friday afternoon, Helena Park by Monday afternoon, and Highland Park and Hillcrest by Tuesday afternoon.

· When school starts there will be some work still going on. All interior work will be done after hours so construction workers are not in the building during the school day. There will be some exterior work going on during the day.

· NISD will be putting out maps and traffic flow videos to the public early next week.

· Custodians will be working through the weekend for deep cleaning.

· All schools will open as scheduled.