It’s been 41 years since a new school was built in the Boyle County School district, but if all goes according to plan, the new Boyle County Middle School will be opening in a little over a year, just in time for the 2019-2020 school year.

“It takes a village. It’s taken a lot of people to get us to the point where we are right now,” said Superintendent Mike LaFavers during the groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday. “We’re very thankful for all of those folks.”

He spoke after board chair Jennifer Newby and took those present on the journey that started with obtaining the nickel tax in 2015. It included working with Centre College, who formerly owned the land that the new middle school will sit on, the neighboring Centenary United Methodist Church, the city of Danville, elected officials and others.

The architecture firm, Clotfelter/Samokar, was hired to design the project, but LaFavers said there were a lot of hands involved in helping design the school. Those included staff from the middle school and district. He said district representatives had spent hours looking at schools around the country, including traveling to a school in Chicago.

“A lot of people played into the design of this school. We took months and months. We visited, probably, 30-40 different schools,” LaFavers said.

The district also brought in students, who are members of a student leadership group, to give some input.

“We were stuck on a few design details and we brought some kids together … some of the things we were having trouble solving, the kids were like, ‘Well, you just need to do this.’ So we did,” LaFavers said. “This is your school and you did a great job in helping us with the design of it.”

The new Boyle County Middle School will be located on Cunningham Way, next to the Centenary United Methodist Church. The property joins the back of the district’s other property, housing the high school athletic areas.

The new 122,000-square-foot facility will include a gym that can seat 900 and an auditorium that seats 500. The auditorium includes an orchestra pit and fly loft for large productions. 

It is anticipated to cost more than $30 million.

The current Boyle County Middle School will be renovated to serve as the Woodlawn Elementary School; the current Woodlawn Elementary School will be renovated to serve as the alternative school and the board office.

“This school is going to be top-notch,” LaFavers said. “We’re really excited about all that. It’s a great school.”

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