BILLINGS – Rimrock Elementary School in Billings has been vacant for several years but will reopen this August.
School District 2 held an open house Thursday for the newly renovated building, now called the Rimrock Learning Center.
Construction is expected to be complete by mid-July in time for the start of the next school year.
The school will house the program for children with disabilities ages 3 to 5.
For the past 15 years, the program has had several homes across the district, including the Career Center.
“We’re just thrilled to have a home and the construction has been amazing,” said Judy Povilaitis, executive director of student services for the district. “The teachers are just overjoyed with the amount of space that they have."
"It’s great not watching this building rot away,” said Scott Reiter, executive director of facilities for the district. “Every day it gets a little better every day and you’re getting closer and closer. But even the neighbors around here seem excited and happy that something’s going on here and we’re able to put the building to use."
The school district’s program will uses six classrooms in the east wing.
Young Families will use two rooms in the west wing for 3-year olds.
Rimrock Elementary opened in 1953 and was closed in 2001 in a cost-saving move for the district.
It was also used by Head Start for a short time.
The building is located at 2802 13th St. W., just south of Rimrock Road.
