Middle school project on schedule, budget
Rachel Hoskins - rhoskins@thefranklinpress.com
As the crane crew from KWS placed the last panel for the new middle school located in Ledger, members of the construction teams, Mitchell County Board of Education members, Central Office Staff, and local and state elected officials gathered to celebrate the Topping Out Ceremony on the site of the new Mitchell Middle School on Wednesday, Nov. 15.
Caitlin Jones, Project Manager with Vannoy Construction said at this step the school is dried in and the interior work will begin.
“The work won’t be as obvious as it has been,” said Jones, explaining that moving forward the vast majority of work will be going on inside the walls.
Walking through the skeleton of the building, stairwells and classrooms were beginning to take form.
“We’re making good progress,” said Tanner Winchester of Vannoy Construction. Winchester said they received the go ahead to start drywalling in some areas last week. They will begin that work this week and after Thanksgiving inside work will begin in force.
The new $48 million middle school is tentatively scheduled to open in either August 2025 or January 2026. Mitchell County Schools superintendent Chad Calhoun said construction is currently on schedule, if not a little ahead.
The new school, home to The Miners – paying tribute to the mining industry that has long made Mitchell County home – will house students in grades 3 to 8 and will have a capacity of up to 900 students. The middle school will consolidate students from Harris Middle, a 6th – 8th grade school; Bowman Middle, a 5th – 8th grade school; Deyton Elementary, a 3rd – 5th grade school; and 3rd and 4th grade students from Gouge Elementary.
Once the middle school opens, Harris, Deyton and Bowman will close permanently as schools.
“County government will use Bowman Middle School,” said Calhoun. “Harris and Deyton have several interested parties and ideas. We will decide how those will be used in the Spring/ early Summer of next year.”
Calhoun said none of the buildings will be abandoned. “They will all be in use.”
Calhoun said some current Mitchell County Schools were built in the 40s, 50s and some parts of schools in use were built in the 1930s.
“It’s time for an upgrade,” said Calhoun. “A new school will provide more services, a new facility, a safe facility, a healthy facility for our students.”
Calhoun went on to say that the school will be paid for in full with no county financing through a variety of funding sources including state grants, lottery funds, and savings.
The school, which is made possible through a $40 million needs-based capital grant from the state, will have two sides— an elementary wing for grades 3 to 5 and a middle school wing for grades 6 to 8.
North Carolina Sen. Ralph Hise, a native of Mitchell County and a product of the Mitchell County School System, was in attendance for the topping out celebration.
“I’m excited about how fast we’ve seen this project come together,” said Hise. “They’ve done incredible work.”
Hise said it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. He said he was happy to see the state make the investment in Mitchell County and to see the progress. His said construction is ahead of schedule and coming in on budget and that is sometimes rare to see with state involvement. “I’m excited to be here and excited to see the progress,” said Hise.
The footprint of the school sits on 16 acres of property in the midst of the Ledger community.
Mitchell County Board of Education member Brenda Sparks said, “It’s a dream come true. We worked hard to get this 16 acres and I can’t believe this big, huge school just swallowed it. I thought we’d have more room.”
Sparks said she had hoped to see room for a track, a playground or maybe ballfields but the school takes the footprint of the property.
“It’s so beautiful and I’m proud of it,” said Sparks.
The school, which will share the purple and white colors of neighboring Mitchell High School will unite students from throughout the county prior to entering high school.
“I work with kids from both ends of the county,” said Mitchell County Commissioner Brandon Pittman. “We’re gonna have a school that will unite students from all pockets of the county. I look forward to the whole county being together again.”
Board of Education member Brandon Pitman said the school is “going to impact our county and our young people and provide a foundation for them to really have access to more resources than we have ever had before.”
Commissioner Harley Masters said the school looks big on the outside but “on the inside its much bigger. Kudos to our school board, kudos to our commissioners, kudos to everyone who has had a hand in it. It will benefit our future and I’m very excited,” said Masters.
“This school is a huge accomplishment for Mitchell County itself, for our staff, for our people, for our children,” said Commissioner Jeff Harding.
“It’s a very modern facility that we’ve needed for a long time. I am very proud of it.”
This is the first new school Mitchell County has built in 22 years.