MARSHALL — Construction at the new Southview Elementary is continuing to make progress, Marshall Public Schools staff said.

Business Services Director Dion Caron said MPS is still looking at a date of July 19 for substantial completion of the school.

During Monday’s school board meeting, Caron and Superintendent Jeremy Williams gave updates on the construction progress, and plans to move teachers into the new school building.

“There’s a lot of work that’s being done,” Caron told school board members. School board chairman Jeff Chapman said MPS has also been fortunate in that contractors have been able to get needed building supplies, and haven’t faced major delays.

Southview Elementary, a grades 2-4 elementary school that will replace West Side Elementary, has been under construction over the past year. The project was part of a $29.8 million building referendum passed by voters in 2019. The goal for construction was to have the building ready for the start of the 2021-22 school year.

Caron said construction is still making progress at Southview. Outside, work is continuing on sidewalks and driveways. Inside the building, carpeting work “is really starting to pick up,” Caron said.

Above ceiling inspections, for the ducts and utilities that will be above the school’s ceiling tiles, also went well, he said.

Caron said construction in the Southview gymnasium had reached a couple of milestones. Scoreboards are now in place in the gym, and workers will start laying in the gym floor on Wednesday.

As construction nears completion, MPS teachers and staff are getting ready to move in. In his June report to the school board, West Side Principal Peter Thor said teachers at the school have worked to pack up their classrooms for the move to Southview. Movers are scheduled to start moving classroom materials into the new school as early as July 5. Teachers will start unpacking later in July, after getting approval that it is safe for them to be in the building.

Thor said an open house is planned for Southview Elementary on Aug. 20 to coincide with Sounds of Summer.