Construction continues at a steady pace at the site of the new Richmond Hill Middle School, and school officials say the new house of learning should be complete just in time for the 2012-2013 school year.
Bryan County School Superintendent John Oliver said the Board of Education expects students to fill the halls of the new facility on Aug. 3, the first day of school for Bryan County students this fall.
“The Board is looking toward an early August or late July open house for kids and parents,” Oliver said.
Though the board originally anticipated the facility would open in August 2011, it was delayed because the road leading to the school could not be built over two wetlands areas it crosses without a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.
However, all paperwork for the permit has been signed and submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers, and Oliver expects to get the permit in hand “very shortly.”
The total construction cost of the project was $21,287,134, Oliver said, noting state growth money accounted for more than $2.4 million of the project. The rest of the tab, around $19 million, was paid with education special purpose local option sales tax funds, he said.
The 205,000 square-foot building will hold between 1,500 and 1,600 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, he said. Currently more than 1,400 students attend the middle school on Harris Trail Road, he added.
Once staff and students move into the new facility, the current RHMS will likely house career pathway programs for Richmond Hill High School Students.