ABOVE: A rendering of the new Martin County West (MCW) school building in Sherburn. A groundbreaking ceremony will take place on May 28.

SHERBURN– It’s been just over a year since the $64.7 million bond referendum for a new school that will house all students grades preK- 12th in the Martin County West (MCW) School District passed. In a week and a half the district and community will celebrate the beginning of the project in a groundbreaking ceremony.

Although physical work hasn’t happened yet, a lot of planning has been going on.

“Over the last six months we’ve gotten really detailed,” said Superintendent Cori Reynolds. “We’ve had committees populated with staff and sometimes community members working on things like playground equipment.”

She said a different committee has been working on interior finishes like carpet, paint and tile. A lot of the student furniture, like desks and chairs, was purchased in 2021 so those items can be reused in the new building.

An added feature to the school school will be enhanced space for career and technical education where hands-on learning will take space. Reynolds is also excited about the flexible spaces where there can be break out sessions for small group learning or space for students in PESO classes to work.

In addition to the new 167,000 square foot facility, Reynolds said, “We will be building a new stadium with stands and a press box and crow’s nest and all that.”

The district does not currently have a track but will be getting one as part of the new school building project.

“This is my first season as a track parent and I can really see how not having a track affects our students and puts our athletes at a disadvantage. We find ourselves having to take them to neighboring schools so they know what it’s like to run on a track versus the sidewalk,” Reynolds said.

Room for all of the track and field event spaces and a practice field will be included with the project.

Constructing a new school building from scratch is not something that’s done often. Looking at all of the school buildings in Martin County, there have been some additions or remodels in recent years but a new school building has not been built in decades.

“As they’ve been making decisions the school board has longevity in mind as a priority. They’ve made decisions on where to invest based on where we will get the most time out of mechanical systems. The hope is that this building far out-lives any of us,” Reynolds said.

ISG is the architect on the project and they’re using R.A. Morton as the construction manager. So far they have awarded the bid for precast to Wells Concrete and Reynolds said they were thrilled that it came in under budget.

“The first thing people will see is the earth work. They’ll have to regrade the whole site so people will see big trucks moving around dirt this summer,” she said.

Reynolds said the rest of the bid packets are out now for contractors to look at and that they’re planning to award those on June 10.

While plans are falling into place, there’s still some that needs to be decided. Reynolds said they are still in conversation about what to do with some of the other school buildings in the district, which includes the Welcome school building, which is not currently being used, the Trimont Elementary School building and Sherburn Elementary School building. The current high school building in Sherburn, which was built in 1956, will be demolished in 2027 because it’s where the new parking lot will be built.

“The school district has been working with a commercial realtor for the last several months to make people aware of the school properties. It started with the school district’s property in Welcome and when that’s finally done we’ll start looking at Trimont and Sherburn and what will be the future with those,” Reynolds said.

Even though movement isn’t expected to happen on the new building until June, Reynolds said, “I felt it was really important to have all of our students and staff participate and celebrate the kicking off of construction.”

The groundbreaking ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m. on May 28, will feature several speakers and Reynolds said people will see the district celebrating its tagline during the ceremony which is, “Connected to the past, celebrating the present, cultivating the future.”

“We plan to feature students heavily in the program because this is all about them,” Reynolds said.

At this point she said they are still on track to open school in the new building in the fall of 2027.

While getting to this point was controversial for some and required two referendums, the first of which failed, Reynolds said they’re at the point where there is no going back on the project.

“It’s just forward at this point and we’re fortunate that what’s ahead of us is really exciting,” Reynolds said. “The way we’ve gone about this, including community members, students and staff means the building we build will be what Martin County West needs and be something that we’ll all be proud of.”