MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Monongalia County Board of Education has finalized the purchase of the future site of Suncrest Middle School.

The land purchase agreement between the Monongalia County School System and West Virginia University was approved unanimously by the BOE, which accounts for just under 17 acres of land at the cost of $4 million. This will move forward plans to replace the long-standing Suncrest Middle School that have been in place for over ten years.

“It’s very exciting, the property is perfect, the location is perfect, and the time is now for Suncrest Middle School,” said Monongalia County School Deputy Superintendent Donna Talerico.

The new site for the new Suncrest Middle School will be located approximately two miles away from the current Baldwin Street location in Morgantown. Located on just over 16.9 acres of land by the WVU Research Park, the site is also ready for immediate construction, which is projected to initially cost approximately $34 million. Talerico expressed excitement for the school system’s ability to move forward on the project that has been in development for over ten years.

“The beautiful part of this property is that it is pad ready, all of the infrastructure is already done,” said Talerico. “So it will be easy, more or less, for the construction to begin, once the proper procedures are followed, an architect is hired, etc.,” she said.

The land purchase agreement will also increase the size of Suncrest Middle School threefold. Compared to the original site, which was just over four acres, the new location is expected to add athletic facilities and extracurricular opportunities along with modernizing a school that has been nearly the same as it was when it was established in the 1930s. With the expanded opportunities as a result of the extra space, members of the BOE were more than happy to give the $4 million land purchase the green light.

“It’s great for the community, it’s an area that needs to be improved,” said Board Member Shawn Smith. “There are wonderful families in that area, and we owe it to the kids, for their future, to not be worried about things falling down, to have that great learning environment,” he said.

The need for a complete relocation of Suncrest Middle School stems from a combination of long-term factors and recent events affecting students. This includes the relocation of sixth-grade students due to the roof replacement of the Suncrest Middle School annex, which costs approximately $1.7 million to complete with students scheduled to return to the school by the end of November. With the recent construction work being just one of several high-cost maintenance projects that have taken place at the near 100-year-old facility over the past several years, time to move forward with the land purchase agreement was of the essence.

“The material that supports the building is eroding,” said Talerico on the current situation at Suncrest Middle School. “And therefore, the building’s age, along with the soil erosion, is causing continuous issues with the actual facility,” she said.

Monongalia County School Superintendent Eddie Campbell is scheduled to meet with the West Virginia School Building Authority on Monday to push for $17 million in state funding to support construction of the new Suncrest Middle School. This will be combined with $17 million from the Monongalia County School System with plans to move forward on construction within the next couple of years if approval is made on a state level. With officials from Charleston already aware of the dire situation at Suncrest Middle School, there’s a high level of confidence that the nearly 17 acres of land purchased from WVU will be the future site of one of the oldest active schools in the county.

“I think we’ve got a good project,” said Campbell. “I have had the opportunity to tour Suncrest Middle with the School Building Authority, so they’ve seen the issues that we’re dealing with, I think we’ve got as good a chance as any of the other three counties that are asking for new schools,” he said.

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