COEUR d'ALENE - The countdown to the first day of school is on, and students will be returning to the classrooms at Canfield Middle School and Sorensen Magnet School, where construction projects have been going on all summer.

"We knew we'd be running up against some really tight timelines," said Superintendent Matt Handelman.

The building projects are being financed by a $32.7 million bond approved by voters a year ago. Three other elementary schools - Borah, Bryan and Winton - are also slated for major remodels being funded by the bond. Those projects are expected to start within the year.

The contractors and the district's maintenance staff members have worked hard, Handelman said, to ensure that the buildings are ready to be occupied come Sept. 3.

"They know that we have hundreds of students who will be in the schools," he said.

Handelman said the teachers will face a bit of a challenge as they set up their classrooms next week. It's not unusual, he said, for teachers to work through Labor Day weekend, preparing their rooms for their new students.

"I'm afraid we'll probably have more than we usually do here on Labor Day," he said.

Officially, Tuesday is the first contracted day for teachers, Handelman said, but teacher trainings are already taking place for the new Idaho Core Standards that will be taught for the first time this year.

Wendell Wardell, the district's chief operating officer, said work will continue after classes resume at Canfield and Sorensen.

"That was always the plan," Wardell said. "We always knew it was a tight (scheduling) fit, but we will be counting attendance at those buildings on the first day of school."

Sorensen's kitchen won't be fully operating by Sept. 3, so meals will be prepared and delivered by the district's nutrition services department.

Sorensen is still on track to host its open house on Thursday.

Canfield is still moving forward with its sixth grade orientation next week, on Wednesday, although it has postponed its open house dates until later in September.

Wardell said the Canfield project is expected to be completed by the end of December.