ALBIA, IOWA -- Students in the Albia school district had class for the first time in a brand new elementary school Monday.

The Grant elementary school cost between $5-6 million and houses grades K-2.  The students were to be in the new building at the beginning of the year.  So this past Thursday high school students including members of the football team helped move all of the equipment from the old building into the new building starting at 7:30 a.m. 

Principal Nancy Foust says without their help Monday wouldn’t have happened.

“They moved this entire building,” Foust said.  “By 3:00 Thursday afternoon the move was complete and then the teachers worked all weekend to have the building ready for the kids today.”

The school held an open house this past weekend in which 1,500 people attended.  Foust says it’s been a dream come true opening the new building.

“It's wonderful.  This is the first time in 14 years we've all been together because we've always had kindergarten in a separate building.  We're really excited to be here, and the opportunities that we have as a k-2 community to have kids here in the building."

The building is air conditioned and has new playground equipment.  There's still more to work on as the parking lot is expected to be finished before the end of the year.