By Tim Farley

Managing Editor

Choctaw Board of Education members and district administrators were scheduled to break ground Monday weather pending on the new $15 million middle school.

Actually, crews with Boldt Construction began dirt work several weeks ago. However, inclement weather forced a work stoppage as crews waited for better weather.

“We are very excited to see the new middle school come up out of the ground,” said Superintendent Jim McCharen. “This facility is long overdue and we believe that it will not only be a great source of price for the school district, the students and staff, but a great source of pride to the entire community of Choctaw. We are looking forward to a beautiful new middle school.”

The new middle school will be a 109,000 square foot building consisting of 40 classrooms. Construction is scheduled for completion for the fall 2011 semester. The current middle school is the second oldest school building in the district. The current middle school served as the high school for many years.

“That’s the building our architects would tell us when we talked about renovating that we just needed to go ahead and build a new one,” McCharen said. “This new one will be state-of-the-art with upgraded technology and new security features.”

The new Choctaw Middle School was part of a $93 million bond issue voters approved in December 2008. Voters approved the measure by more than 80 percent.