Wyoming Co. schools score big in construction
May 23—Thumbs up to Wyoming County Schools officials for breaking ground on three major construction projects Tuesday: an auxiliary gym at Westside High School, a multipurpose facility at the Wyoming County Career and Technical Center, and a pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school in Mullens.
All three projects are funded, at least in part, by the $20.1 million facilities bond sale approved by county voters in November 2022.
All three projects are much needed and long overdue for students.
In an unprecedented undertaking, numerous school construction projects — not just the three — will be ongoing across the county before the summer's end.
If all goes as planned, both the auxiliary gym and the multipurpose facility will be in use by students next year.
The Westside High auxiliary gym will provide additional practice space and time for the school's various athletic teams — very important when one factors in these student athletes have homework and other responsibilities each evening. The $6.7 million cost estimate also includes the artificial turf football field at the school, which has already been constructed and is in use by the students.
The Career and Technical Center's $6 million multi-purpose facility will hold about 400 people and provide space for the center's graduation ceremonies, awards assemblies, honor society inductions, and other events. In the past, the biggest events were hosted outdoors — under a blazing sun or conducted around periods of rain — or those attending were crowded into the conference room. Not a great situation in any event.
Additionally, the facility will be used for various countywide school events such as the annual science, reading, and social studies fairs, spelling bee, and other contests and gatherings that can disrupt instruction at the schools where they are currently held each year.
The new two-story, $24 million school in Mullens will consolidate Mullens Elementary, constructed in 1951 as Conley High School, and Mullens Middle, constructed in 1923 — 101 years ago, into the new Mullens Elementary and Middle School for students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
Located on the site of the former Mullens athletic field, students are expected to attend classes in the new building in the fall of 2026.
Also on tap across the county are more than 13 additional projects — from increased security upgrades, to electrical improvements, to walking tracks that will be shared with the communities — all funded with the facilities bond.
This "Summer of Construction" should be one for the history books. — By Mary Catherine Brooks
of The Wyoming County Report
for The Register-Herald
