It’s been more than 50 years since a new school building opened in Macomb. That will change this year.
Several classrooms are already completed in the new middle school building, according to Superintendent Patrick Twomey. He said the heavy construction work is done and much that remains is finishing work.
“I think we’ll take possession by early spring,” he said.
The new middle school is being built just south of the current junior-senior high. It will house sixth through eighth grade students.
The estimated cost is $17.8 million. It will be paid for with revenue generated from the county’s one-cent sales tax for schools.
The building will open for classes in the fall. Before that, Twomey plans to hold an open house event at the new school sometime in July.
“When I say event, something probably catered. Invite the public in to look around. We’d like to have a nice ceremony,” he said.
Middle school students currently share a building with high schoolers.
Twomey said the district will renovate that building once middle school students are moved into their own facility. But it’s not yet known what the renovations will look like. He pointed out the building has been used by junior and senior high students for 30 years.
“The administration at the high school wants to spend a year just with no junior high kids in here so they can get a good feel for what kind of spaces they can have,” Twomey said.
Tri States Public Radio produced this story. TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.
