Ground was broken Tuesday for a new North Springs High School campus, which is set to open in 2027.
Students will continue to attend classes in the existing high school during the construction of the new buildings. Once the new high school is constructed, the existing building will be demolished, Fulton County School Chief Operating Officer Noel Maloof said during the groundbreaking ceremony. New athletic facilities will be constructed during the 2027-2028 school year.
Maloof said the construction of a new high school campus was made possible by community support and the commitment of the school district. Funding has come from a one-cent education sales tax voters reauthorized through the next five years.
“I think that it was time to bring on a new building rather than continue to rehab the older building. And as all of our buildings age out, we’ll continue doing these kind of replacements,” Maloof said.
The school district has addressed inflation and supply chain issues through better design to keep costs as close to the original budget as possible.
Vertical Earth of Cumming, GA was awarded the $14.1 million phase one site work contract in April, which included demolition of the athletic fields. The original funding allocation for all phases of construction was $108 million.
“As you know, we had somewhere in the neighborhood of about a 40 percent increase in cost,” Maloof said.
Betty Klein was one of the parents who started asking for a new school nearly a decade ago. She and four other moms worked with principals, superintendents and spent more than $1,000 on open records requests to get to Tuesday’s groundbreaking.
Principal Scott Hanson said students having to go off campus for athletics has been challenging and put a damper on school spirit. He’s been posting weekly photo updates on site preparations on Facebook.
FCS board member Michelle Morancie said the new school construction would not be possible without the community’s support.
