Construction will begin soon at Aurora Heights Elementary School in Newton. The building was closed this past school year for interior renovations and dirt work for the addition. Now Superintendent Tom Messinger says the walls for the new school space will start going up.
“The foundation work has largely been completed on the area where the new addition will be constructed, and any day we should be seeing the block walls going up for the new gym and classroom addition on the northeast side of the building.”
Superintendent Messenger says the addition will include four classrooms, a gym, and offices for the principal and school resource officer and nurse. Graphite Construction Group will be building the addition. The Newton School Board approved the Des Moines company’s low bid of $12,895,000 in late October. The bid was well below the project’s estimated cost of $14.5 million. Aurora Heights and Thomas Jefferson Elementary Schools are being equipped to handle up to 500 pre-kindergarten through 4th grade students, as the Newton School District transitions from four elementary schools to two in the fall of 2026, due to a continual decline in enrollment.
