There won’t be any students in Sumner Elementary School on Thursday.

Sumner students are trading one set of classrooms for another, as Sumner staff transfers classes to Riverland Community College for the last two weeks of school due to an HVAC renovation which makes Sumner’s impending alternative calendar switch possible.

Sumner is switching to a 45/15 calendar this year as part of its solution to improve Adequate Yearly Progress scores on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment exams. After researching the 45/15 schedule, in which students attend school for nine weeks, have three three-three week holiday breaks and have a shortened summer break, district officials pushed for Sumner and part of Woodson Kindergarten Center to switch over to the new schedule. Austin Public School board members passed the schedule change in March.

“(We’ll have) the exact same school hours,” said Sumner Principal Sheila Berger. “(And) the exact same bus schedules.”

Students will be picked up at Sumner starting Thursday and bussed over to Riverland should they so choose. Sumner staff sent out notices of the change earlier this year and have checked how each student will get to school.

Berger said school shouldn’t be heavily impacted, as the last two weeks of school are typically used to wind up the year.

“It’s that time of year anyways,” Berger said.

Students will learn in East and West campus classrooms, which are quiet as Riverland’s Spring semester recently ended. They’ll enjoy lunch in Riverland cafeterias and have recess at Riverland’s athletic areas. Fifth-graders shouldn’t worry, as the annual dodgeball game against Sumner staff will still be on at one of Riverland’s baseball diamonds.

Sumner staff will move back into Sumner once HVAC renovations are completed by the time school starts August 1.

Though classes will continue as normal, the move has sped up staff’s preparations for next year, as the staff are busy cleaning and clearing out classrooms.

“It’s been a really good housecleaning experience,” said Sumner Principal Sheila Berger. “If it can’t fit in a cupboard, it’s gone.”