The city of Lewes takes a step toward building a new middle school.
Lewes Mayor Ted Becker and the City Council unanimously approved a site plan for construction of the planned school.
“The new Lewes Middle School is proposed for a site that is currently occupied by Shields Elementary School," said Becker. "The building that used to be The Lewes School, which is across the street from the Shields, is being renovated and will become the new elementary school known as Shields.”
Becker says with the site plan approved Wilmington’s ABHA Architects will begin working on the school’s design. That’s expected to go to the Cape Henlopen School Board this summer for its approval.
He says the main architect on the project is Bryan Williams who works for ABHA Architects and attended Shields Elementary.
Becker says the new middle school is needed to because of increasing district enrollment and should house 650 students when it opens in the fall 2024.
Cape Henlopen School District already owns the land where the school will be built. The design and construction budget is estimated just under $40 million and the state will pick up 60% of that with money already allocated through the Bond Bill.
The two schools will create an educational campus that stretches a half-mile along Savannah Road to DuPont Ave. It will include an athletic complex with baseball and softball diamonds and a multi-purpose field.
And Becker says the design will take into consideration its placement downtown.
“One of the concerns obviously is traffic - both bus traffic and vehicular traffic," said Becker. "And I think the architect did an excellent job of separating those two means of getting kids to school by having a separate entrance for bus traffic and vehicular traffic, which should help manage the traffic when kids are dropped off for school (or picked up from).
Construction is expected to start next spring.
