Groundbreaking held for new South Middle School

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new South Middle School building were held Thursday morning. Room 210 News will have a story on it next week.
From the Joplin Globe:

South Middle School Principal Ron Mitchell said the school’s current sixth-graders are excited about having more elbow room.

“The seventh- and eighth-graders are upset they won’t be able to go,” he said. “But in a few months, we’ll have classrooms where we won’t bump into each other.”

Four classrooms at South now have 700 square feet each; the rest have 500 square feet, Mitchell said. The new building will have 900-square-foot classrooms, modern science and library rooms, a 700-seat auditorium and an expanded gymnasium.

The 127,500-square-foot school is part of a $57.3 million middle-school campaign authorized by voters in a bond issue last April.

R.E. Smith Construction Co. was awarded the construction contract on March 11. The company submitted the low bid of $18,140,000.