Houston County School District breaks ground on Veterans Middle School

School district leaders say the new school will provide relief to Bonaire and Perry Middle Schools, which are both about 300 students over preferred capacity.

KATHLEEN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Today, Houston County School District leaders broke ground on Veterans Middle School, which is expected to open in fall 2027.

The new school will be more than 160,000 square feet and have 67 classrooms. But most importantly, district leaders say it will provide relief for other middle schools in the area. The district prefers that its middle schools have around 800 students, but Bonaire and Perry Middle each have about 1,100.

“When you start looking at the number of classrooms and we end up having to have modular classrooms, this will help relieve some of that,” said Dr. Mark Scott, Superintendent of the Bibb County School District.

Scott says the school board approved a $55 million budget for the construction of Veterans Middle, an amount that allows the district to get the full economy of scale on the project.

“It also includes athletic facilities, including football, baseball, softball,” Scott said. “It will include an agricultural program. That will include the agricultural barn and a greenhouse.”

School board chair Helen Hughes says the district will decide which elementary and middle school students are zoned for the new school at future board meetings.

“Maps will be drawn; there will be input from the community,” Hughes said. “There will be meetings that they will be able to attend that they will be able to attend to give their input.”

The school’s construction budget comes from the education SPLOST, which was approved by more than 80% of voters in 2021. Hughes says this brings responsibility to be good stewards of those taxpayer dollars.

“I think they realize the importance of education,” Hughes said. “The importance of people moving to our community, our county and that the school system is a very vital part in that.” 

Scott says residents have been asking about a new school as more houses are being built around the already overpopulated middle schools. He says he’s thrilled to have started the project ahead of his retirement next month.

“This school will continue to allow that growth and will allow people to continue to move to Houston County to live and send their kids to the Houston County School District,” Scott said.