Kirtland school ready for year

KIRTLAND — Kindergarten teacher Kali Warner was putting the finishing touches on her classroom early last week so it would be ready to welcome students to the new Judy Nelson Elementary School.

Teachers and staff members used the winter break to move into the new 94,882-squarefoot building that will house approximately 595 students from kindergarten through sixth grade.

There were days when Warner spent eight hours unpacking boxes that were delivered from the portable building she taught in behind Grace B. Wilson Elementary School.

The new school was built on the site of the old Ruth N. Bond Elementary School, which was demolished in 2015.

Warner taught at Ruth N. Bond, and her 18 students would watch construction of the new building from their classroom in the portable building.

“It’s nice to have matching furniture. At Ruth N. Bond, it was a hodgepodge of what we could find,” she said.