RAPID CITY, SD — Following significant and continuing planning Rapid City Area Schools revealed renovation plans for expansion of Rapid Valley Elementary.

Original construction of the school came in 1985, being built to address the needs of the at-the-time modest population of Rapid Valley, however interstitial years have led to a shifting population, significantly pressing the schools’ total capacity. “the eastern part of the city is fast growing, and a lot of residential areas are coming in.” said Coy Sasse, RCAS CFO, “We already have some capacity issues at the 2 elementaries, and so we really needed to do if something at 1 of these schools to give a bit of a release valve, then and provide some relief from the capacity issues, and this is a really good site for a project like this. It’s a large site geographically”.

The school will receive renovations across nearly the entirety of the building, with a significant addition of a new lunch room to house the schools’ burgeoning population. With concepts and goals drawn, Manager of Construction and Planning Jade Clement says that over the next three months the district will be developing cost estimates and developing a working timeline for the renovation, which as of the time of writing aims to break ground in April of this year and be completed the following fall.