Summer vacation has been extended three days for students at the new Bow Lake Elementary in SeaTac as construction delays has forced the opening day back to Monday, Sept. 10.

Assistant Highline Superintendent Geri Fain blames the construction delays on bid complications, weather problems and labor shortages.

Other Highline schools start Wednesday, Sept. 5.

After two years away from their home campus, Mt. Rainier High students return to a brand new school.

Mt. Rainier students were housed at Olympic Middle School during construction.

Aviation High students now will attend Olympic until their permanent campus is built near Tukwila's Museum of Flight.

The Des Moines school will hold a community dedication and open house at the new facility on Monday, Sept. 10, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Students from Bow Lake Elementary and the former Valley View Elementary also are moving into a new building at the Bow Lake site in SeaTac.

Valley View was one of four schools closed by the Highline School District in a cost-cutting move.

Classroom wings, the office and library, as well as the covered play area, 42nd Avenue parking lot and drop-off/pick-up area will open first at Bow Lake.

But meals will be prepared at other schools and brought to Bow Lake until the kitchen is ready.

Use of the gym and multipurpose room will be phased in through the end of October.

At least Bow Lake students will have it better than Cedarhurst kids.

Cedarhurst students were expecting to move into a brand new school this month. Some parents and staff had complained the old building in Burien suffered from mold problems.

But a stubborn accidental fire on July 14 damaged the metal roof of the new school under construction, delaying its opening.

The fire also set off a round of musical chairs in the district as staffers scrambled to find space to accommodate students.

Cedarhurst students are beginning the new year at Sunnydale-Highline's oldest school site.

Big Picture High, an alternative school, which was housed at Sunnydale, was moved to the old Glacier High facility in SeaTac.

Students at Shorewood and Midway elementaries are also beginning classes at unfamiliar locations. Shorewood students will go to Beverly Park and Midway students will attend Manhattan while their new schools are constructed.

Those new schools are set to open in Sept. 2008.

Parkside and Marvista students are spending their final year in their old buildings, as their schools will be rebuilt and reopen in Sept. 2009.

Three small learning communities with separate principals open this week at the Evergreen High campus in North Highline.

SeaTac's Tyee campus completely converted to small schools last year.

Highline High in Burien and Mt. Rainier High in Des Moines offer small academies but the schools will keep their overall identities with one principal for each high school.