Video: Final Project In District Wide Bond Issue Completed And Worth The Wait

GUNTOWN, MISS. (WCBI) – For students and teachers at Guntown Middle School, the new building for seventh graders couldn’t come soon enough.

“We’re getting so large, we got to have room,” said Seventh Grade Math Teacher Diane Floyd.

Students not only outgrew their previous space, but it was in disrepair.

“We had a lot of sections of the floor with rotted joists, we also had black mold and white mold present, and to continue classes in this building posed a serious health risk to students,” said Lee County School Superintendent Jimmy Weeks.

The new classroom building at Guntown Middle School, was part of a $13.5 million bond issue Lee County voters overwhelmingly approved three years ago.

The new building includes 10 classrooms. While it is new construction, the exterior resembles the old school building. In fact, this emblem from the original building was preserved, along with this circular window, which is now in the office space.

Principal Casey Dye says the new building makes it easier to plan for future growth.

“Allowed us the opportunity to convert some classrooms we already had on campus into things like a science lab, hopefully for the future, a computer lab so it’s opened several different doors for us,” Dye said.

Students appreciate the space, and the community support.

“It feels good that we can have someone to depend on if we need to have something to get done,” said Brice Stone.

“I love the new building, it’s really nice, the construction workers did a good job, there’s a lot of space, I love we can just talk to our friends in the hallways and all that stuff,” said Rayli Arriola.

Guntown and Saltillo are two of the fastest growing schools in the district.

Nearly every campus in Lee County was impacted by the bond issue.