PELHAM – Pelham City Schools Superintendent Scott Coefield said just about everything at Pelham Park Middle School will be complete and awaiting students come Aug. 10, except for the school’s football field.

Coefield said PPMS is in the “home stretch” of completion. Right now, crews are working to get the lunchroom and library completed.

“The only thing that may not be done by the time school starts is seeding the athletic field and some of the landscaping,” Coefield said.

Coefield said some landscaping would be ongoing as school starts and provisions have been made for the middle school football team to practice at Pelham High School until their field is completed.

PCS Athletic Director Kim Kiel said the middle school football team will practice on the Lower Field at PHS, which is adjacent to the PHS softball complex.

“We have plenty of room for them to practice,” Kiel said. “We’ve been fertilizing the Lower Field and keeping it in good shape since Pelham City Schools took over this property, so it will be a safe environment for our student athletes to practice on.”

Kiel said the athletic department has an athletics bus that will transport the middle school athletes to and from the high school.

To start the year, residents will only be able to access the middle school from U.S. 31. A secondary access point from Bearden Road will still be under construction when school starts.

Coefield said the school system and the Pelham Police Department are in the process of finalizing the details for the police to assist with traffic flow.

“We will be sending out communications about traffic flow soon,” Coefield said. “It’s time for the public to perk up and pay attention to the information we’ll be sending out about traffic flow.”

The school system has scheduled a grand opening for the middle school on Aug. 6 from 2-4 p.m. This will be an opportunity for the public to tour the school.

In the meantime, teachers have begun moving some of their belongings into their classrooms and the school system will begin installing technology in classrooms sometime next week.