Middletown Mayor and Council voted unanimously to approve the land development plan for a new middle school Monday night.
The new Louis L. Redding Middle School is set to open at 201 New Street in Fall 2025, effectively replacing the old middle school, which will be demolished immediately following the completion of the new one.
Appoquinimink School District Construction Project Manager Keith Hopkins says the new building is designed for 1000 students – not necessarily bigger than the old building, but much more modern.
“It's pretty close to the same size. I mean, but way more modern, you know, the other one had outlived its lifespan. All of the central components are pretty rundown, so this is well needed and deserved by the community.”
He adds there will also be an outdoor classroom paying homage to Louis Redding and his accomplishments.
“You'll have all new marker boards, all new gymnasiums, you know, there'll be the courts out back, two basketball courts out back, a soccer field in the back. And so it'll be more of a community use thing as the community can come in and use the spaces after hours.”
Superintendent Matthew Burrows says the newer buildings in the district have learning pods — a small community within a larger one.
"The current structure of the building does not allow us to do that," Burrows says. "And so like you miss out on some of those smaller community things within the larger community. Plus it also gives us an opportunity with the performing arts aspect to have all those in one place, or related arts, which are like exploratory things like that for our middle school."
He adds that once the old building has been demolished, it will become a community park, further expanding on community access to the space.
Burrows expects minor disruptions to student learning during the construction process, and any inconvenience will be far outweighed by the benefits. He says students will still be able to walk to school and access the old building as normal.
Now that the district has approval for the major land plan, Hopkins says they can get started on site work and approve permits for development.
More information on construction plans and a timeline will be presented at Appoquinimink’s first school board meeting of the year Tuesday night at 7 pm.
