The USD 475 Board of Education ended their tour of new construction projects throughout the district Friday with a tour of the new Fort Riley Elementary School.

The new $22 million school offers up 76,700 sq. ft. of learning space with 22 classrooms, an innovative library media center, mobile labs, wireless technology, and a gymnasium that also serves as a tornado safe room built to FEMA standards to withstand 250 mph wind speeds.

Becky Coy, School Principal explained that she still has the same reaction every time she walks into the school,”Wow! It’s really happened.”

“You know the planning took so long to make this happen, were we going to get the money, were we not? And it happened, and it’s probably bigger and better than I could have ever imagined it,” said Coy. “I’m just so excited for our military families to have this top-notch quality education for our military children. It’s a way of saying thank you to our families for everything they endure to keep us safe.”

It was announced a year ago this month that the cost of the school had gone up and was expected to be $4 million over budget. But thanks to some cost engineering, that overrun was reduced to $2 million and the Federal Government stepped in and paid 80 percent of that, with the State taking care of the remaining 20 percent.

Top of the line technology is just one of the benefits of the new school. If you ask Coy, the extra space and safety is the largest benefit.

“I think the space is what we are going to use the most to enhance the learning of our kiddos outside of the classroom.”

The new school is the third new school built on Fort Riley in the past four years. Fort Riley Middle School opened in August 2014 and Seitz Elementary School opened for the start of the 2012-2013 school year.