A new Central Middle School is being constructed on the existing Central Middle School property to serve the area's 6th - 8th grade population and will be a dynamic learning center for generations of students.
The new middle school will house up to 660 students in approximately 125,000 gross square feet in a two-story structure. The building is designed with safety flexibility, and sustainability in mind — goals generated in a Visioning Session with civic leaders, community members, and school faculty, in conjunction with the Educational Specification set forth by the Board of Education.
The First Floor will provide a secured main entrance, meeting the latest school safety guidelines, and will be the central hub for assembly spaces such as the Auditorium, Gymnasium, Media Center and Cafeteria. The Main Office, Nurse and Counseling suites, Visual and Performing Arts spaces, Family and Consumer Science, and Innovation Lab/Wood Shop will all be located on this level, conveniently accessed and shared by all students. The north side of the first floor is built into the hill and provides appropriate space for building services such as storage, mechanical and electrical rooms, the kitchen, and receiving area.
The Second Floor will house Academic Classrooms to support modern educational pedagogy. In comfortable climate-controlled areas with plenty of natural daylight, students will have the opportunity to participate in large groups, small groups, and individualized learning. Three well-defined academic pods are designed to support the two teams in each grade level. Between the pods, specialty services will be housed and on-grade access is provided to outdoor courtyard spaces nestled into the property's forested north hill.
The Site program is equally exciting with the redevelopment of the athletic fields to support baseball and softball fields, along with a new multipurpose field. New site circulation will provide safe and separate drop off areas for buses and cars, as well as accessible pedestrian paths for student walkers from the new parking lots. The benefit of a long access driveway for vehicles utilizing the existing Indian Rock Lane curb cut, is that parent drop-off and pick-up cueing will be on the school property, rather than on the public roadways as is the current situation. Local traffic will be improved by this significant design change as well as all bus traffic entering and exiting the school property via new driveways on Orchard Street.
The official groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 20, 2024 and work on the site commenced on January 16, 2025.
