The floors are being waxed, most of the classrooms are empty and electricians are wiring things left and right.

Leslie B. Stover Elementary, the new $6.4 million elementary school in Elgin, is at T-minus three weeks and counting.

The school, for grades three through six, will open with more than 760 students drawn from Wateree Elementary and Lugoff-Elgin Middle School, which lost its sixth grade.

Blaney Elementary, adjacent to Stover, will house pre-kindergarten through second grade. According to the Kershaw County School District’s long-range plan, Stover will transition to a middle school in three-to-five years; with wings added to increase capacity to 1,200 students.

For now, though, principal Glenn Huggins, fresh from a week at the S.C. New Principal’s Academy in Myrtle Beach, is pumped up about leading the elementary school.

“I’m excited about working with the community and the children,” said Huggins, who says he’s walked through the new facility at least 10 times a day since finding out in April that he’d be the principal. “With activities and programs, we’re really going to challenge them and expose them to so much at Leslie M. Stover.”

The school is named for Blaney Elementary’s first principal. Leslie M. Stover served from 1971-85; he died in 1995.

Prior to this Huggins, 35, was assistant principal at Camden Primary. Kershaw County School Superintendent Ralph Cain has every confidence that Huggins will be an effective leader.

“He’s been a middle school teacher and he’s a person with a lot of experience. I have the utmost confidence he’ll do an excellent job,” Cain said. “This is an opportunity to set things in motion, to set the tone for how good a school Stover can be. He’ll do a good job.”

Huggins certainly has all the tools.

Stover will have two computer labs, with 30 Gateway computers in each. There’ll be a morning television report, live from the school’s media center every day from 7:45 a.m. to 8 a.m.

The large cafeteria features a state-of-the-art kitchen and round tables to give it a more homey feel. The art room has a kiln, and each classroom has a security button that buzzes to the front office, as well as a telephone with voice- mail capabilities so parents can call teachers directly.

There is an assistant principal’s office in both wings of the school; the wings are connected to the main building by a hallway featuring glass tiles from Europe. There are fire break doors between the wings, which, along with security cameras throughout the school, are another safety feature.

The only ones who might appreciate all the amenities more than the principal are the more than four dozen teachers.

“The teachers are so excited to come into a new building,” Huggins said.

Everything in the school, from desks and tables to books and globes, is new. Cain estimates stocking Stover will cost somewhere around a half -million dollars.

However, it’s money well spent, Cain said.

“It’s part of a real good plan that meets our needs,” he said. “We look forward to getting started this fall.”