Baldwin County breaks ground on two school expansions

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Elberta High School
[Photo Credit: via Elberta High School's facebook page]

Two Baldwin County schools broke ground on their combined 80,000 square feet of new school additions on Wednesday.

The two expansions will include an addition to Elberta High School in Elberta, Ala. and an addition to Magnolia School, an elementary school located in Magnolia Springs, Ala.. The Elberta expansion is expected to cost around $8.5 million dollars, while the Magnolia School is estimated to cost $6 million. Both projects should take less than a year to complete.

Elberta High School
Elberta High School breaks ground on their new expansion [Photo Credit: via Elberta High School’s Facebook page]

The expansions come at an integral time for Baldwin County, as it is currently the fastest growing county in the state and is expected to move from seventh most populated county in 2010, to fourth in 2040.

“Our children are going to be able to come here and starting in kindergarten and go through our system here in Elberta all the way through the twelfth grade and that’s just incredible,” Jim Hamby, Elberta’s mayor told WALA.

Elberta High School’s long awaited new expansion begins at phase II of the school system’s “pay as you go” program. Phase one funded accommodations for Elberta’s middle school and ninth grade students.

Phase II consists of a two-story, 48,000 square foot building with 40 classrooms, and eventually the school will add a new cafeteria, band room, and parking for 300 cars.

Magnolia School’s ground was officially broken on a 36,000 square foot, expansion that will add 35 new classrooms to the elementary school. The new wing is being built to take in students that currently attend Swift School in Bon Secour, Ala.. And although the project’s ground was broken Wednesday, the project won’t be completed before the start of next school year.

“We’re going to be moving in some portables and go ahead and move the Swift students with the re-zoning at the beginning of the year next year,” Debra Phillips, Magnolia School principal told WALA. “We’re just really excited that they’re coming. It will be about another hundred and forty students for us.”