PRIDE 2024: Section 4 -- New Timberwood School on schedule to open in 2025
Sep. 28—The new Timberwood Elementary School in Mercer County is still on schedule to open next year.
Construction on the new school is ongoing along Airport Road, near Bluefield. Once it opens in the fall of 2025, it will replacing aging school facilities in the Brushfork and Bluewell communities.
"We are on target to open fall 2025," said Tom Adkins, director of facilities and maintenance for Mercer County Schools, said.
The school system is projecting an initial enrollment at the new Timberwood School of 317 combined students from the Brushfork and Bluewell communities.
"Whenever we are blessed with the ability and funding to build a new school there is an elevated level of excitement," Adkins said. "You can see it in the eyes of all administrators, teachers and students. These communities are strong in ethics and desire of greatness, and we hope that by giving them an environment in which they can thrive academically, we will only continue to enhance this existing intrinsic drive."
The new school was under roof by late July, and most of the ongoing work now involves the interior of the structure.
The school system released a video tour of the inside of the structure earlier this summer on its Facebook page.
According to that video, brick and stone work are continuing in the exterior of the new school, which will also feature a middle-sized gymansium
Pre-K, Kindergarten and first and second grade classrooms will be on the first floor, the school system video said. Grades 3-5 will be on the second floor.
The video added that the school's design includes lots of windows for natural light
The new Timberwood Elementary is being built with the help of a $9.6 million grant from the West Virginia School Building Authority. The local school system is contributing another $5 million, and the project's total cost is estimated at $14.6 million.
It will replace aging facilities in the Brushfork and Bluewell communities.
In Bluewell, the existing school is an antiquated facility that is located in a congested area where there is a high volume of vehicle traffic. It is also in close proximity to residential and rental properties.
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