AUBURN — Auburn school administrators and staff are preparing to welcome students to the new Edward Little High School, which Superintendent Cornelia Brown described as “amazing” with “lots of natural light.”

The public will have a chance to tour the school at 77 Harris St. from 2-5 p.m. Sunday Aug. 27.

Staff have been in and out of the building getting classrooms and other areas ready, she said, and people in the community are excited and happy with what they have seen of the building so far.

“The spaces are amazing, they have … lots of natural light,” she said. “They’re new, they’re very technologically based, it’s an amazing resource for the community.”

The school will offer new programs, including cosmetology, culinary arts and firefighting science.

There is an auditorium, auxiliary gym and a new turf field, which the old school next door did not have. Sports teams have started using the new fields.

A few areas are not ready yet, such as the auditorium and some technical program rooms, according to Brown.

Administrators are working with the architect and general contractor to flesh out a timeline to complete the auditorium, which Brown thinks will not happen until this winter. The school is still waiting for some equipment due to supply chain issues. The school’s fall play will be scheduled for this winter.

The school cost $126 million to construct, Brown said, with the state paying for 88% and the city roughly $16 million.

The old high school opened in 1961, serving students for the last roughly 62 years, according to Brown. It is being torn down.

Administrators are also working to attract bus drivers, Brown said. The School Department created a free training program for new or prospective drivers.

The bus driver shortage goes back at least five years and has plagued districts statewide.

Staffing shortages is another issue districts statewide have had to grapple with.

The Auburn School Department reduced the number of staffing positions by around 23 during the last budget process, Brown said. About 15 of those positions were classroom teachers, however those impacted by the reductions, except for one administrator, were offered another position within the School Department.

Freshmen and sophomores will attend an orientation Aug. 30, and juniors and seniors will have orientation Aug. 31. Classes will start Sept. 1.

Seventh graders will have their orientation Aug. 30 and eighth graders Aug. 31. They, too, will begin classes Sept. 1.

Students from kindergarten to sixth grade will start school Aug. 30.

More information about the upcoming school year can be found on the School Department’s website: auburnschl.edu.