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The Lafourche Parish School District (LPSD) officially broke ground on the new Thibodaux Middle School today.
“We’re real excited,” Superintendent Jarod Martin said after joining other school officials in the ceremonial shoveling.
The future school is a merger of East Thibodaux and West Thibodaux middle schools. Located at 724 Cardinal Drive, the 141,000-square-foot facility is being constructed on land between the two buildings it’s replacing. The two schools have about 700 students combined. The new middle school will have a capacity of 850 students.
A couple of years ago, school officials decided to combine the schools because of the worn conditions of each. “Before we did anything, we had some focus groups. We had some community members come in; we had parents come in. We got opinions from everyone. So, it’s really a community-based decision to merge the schools and to bring everything together,” said Tina Babin, Lafourche Parish School Board President. “It’s been a wonderful process.”
A little over six months ago, LPSD secured funding for the new school through bond sales. On June 2 of this year, the school board awarded the $28,464,000 project to Thibodaux-based Thompson Construction.
Designed by Weimer Gros Flores, another Thibodaux-based company, the facility will feature state-of-the-art classrooms, multiple gymnasiums, a wing for each grade level, a practice football field and an outdoor eating area, among other amenities. “It’s going to be a beautiful building. It’s going to have lots of resources to offer our kids,” Babin said.
“It’s going to be a building that fits the architectural style of the existing buildings in Thibodaux yet brings a modern component — high ceilings, a lot of light,” Martin highlighted.
Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson, who joined Tuesday morning’s ceremony, called it a “great day” for the parish. “Anytime we get to see new educational facilities being built that will help educate the future leaders of our community and our state is a great day,” he said. “The last several schools the school district has built have been awesome facilities, and this is just another jewel to that collection.”
Although the ceremonial groundbreaking was held today, the project has already been underway — with work on its parking lots, foundation and drainage started. Martin said the facility is planned to be finished in two years. The two existing middle schools are set to be demolished after the new school’s completion.
“This has been a long time coming for two buildings that have a lot of history in Thibodaux,” said Martin, before adding that with the new school, the district is aiming to put another building in their place “that’s going to keep that tradition alive and be something that the entire city can be proud of.”
See pictures from the ceremony and renderings of the future school below:
