Keith Kuwik, principal at Legdeview Elementary School in Clarence, greets kindergarten students Aiden Hank, left, Braedyn Boehringer, Andrew Clouse and Austin Krieb before the start of their orientation day at the school Tuesday. Kindergarteners and new students met the principal and toured the school. Classes begin Sept. 7. Photo by Jim Smerecak Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com As students collect pens, notebooks and calculators for their return to classes, the Clarence Central School District is also preparing for the onset of the academic year.

Phase two of the district’s EXCEL project is near completion. During the summer, about 120,000 square feet of roofing was replaced at the high school, and new insulation and drains with single ply PVC membrane were installed, said Superintendent Thomas Coseo.

Coseo said 95 percent of the work on the roof is complete and the project is expected to conclude this month. Construction will not impact students, and no other work is planned for the fall.

Coseo said three high school athletic game fields and two practice fields were re-graded, with seeding taking place this week. However, the field will not be usable until next fall, so soccer teams are playing at the Clarence Soccer Center and field hockey is based at Clarence Middle School, according to Coseo.

Football will still be played at high school under new lights at the field. The first game will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3, against Iroquois High School.

Some things, including lunch prices and parking amounts, are the same as last year, according to Coseo. He said there have been no “substantive changes in bus routes.” Some middle school runs were reduced but basic routes are the same, he said.

“IT upgrades are a work in progress. Servers, routers, fiber lines and telephone upgrades are all part of the project that will be completed over the next several months,” he said.

The district also implemented the NUTRIKIDS food management system.

He said the district continues to register new students and expects to have about the same number of students on the first day of school, Sept. 7, as it did at the end of June — 5,120.

He said the kindergarten through eighth grade student/ teacher ratio is about 21 to one and the high school average is 22 to one.

The district calendar and a brochure describing dress code is expected to be mailed to parents this week. School opening information can be found on the districts web page, www.clare neschools.com.

“Transition to a web-based student data system has caused a few delays in student schedules, but the bugs are being addressed,” said Coseo.