MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The first steps towards the demolition of the soon-to-be replaced Suncrest Middle School appears to be ready to move forward.
The Monongalia County Board of Education unanimously approved a contract valued at around $115,000 to City Construction for the partial demolition of a non-active portion of the school. Monongalia County School Superintendent Eddie Campbell detailed the purpose for the contract that is expected to be completed in no less than 45 days as a strictly safety directed demolition that will not change current plans to move into the new Suncrest Middle School scheduled to be built in the next few years.
“We’ve got that one area of the building that we were having trouble with the exterior walls,” said Campbell. “Once we knew we were going to be given the ability to go ahead with the new Suncrest Middle School, it was determined that the best course of action was to just go ahead an demolish,” he said.
The partial demolition of the current Suncrest Middle School stems from the need to address structural concerns in the facility. To prevent a partial collapse of the over 100-year old school, City Construction crews will completed exterior demolition to three classrooms and a janitor closet, all of which have been closed off from students and staff over the past several months. With the whole building at risk if the portion of the school isn’t demolished, Campbell and the Mon County BOE felt it was best to take out that portion and avoid measures that would be much more costly.
“The ground is sinking there, and so within the last several months we’ve moved students out of there and really curtained it off,” said Campbell.
According to Campbell, no day-to-day operations at Suncrest Middle School will be affected by the demolition of the three classrooms. As part of the contract, City Construction crews will conduct demolition on the outside of the school within their 45-day timeframe to complete focused on the walls of those rooms with the interiors removed after the core demolition is completed. This will allow for students and staff to walk around the open parts of the school and will prevent any potential injury risk.
“It won’t impact the daily schedule over there at all,” said Campbell. “All the work will be done on the outside, if anything needs to be done inside, there’s no students in those sections right now anyway,” he said.
The Monongalia County School System also aims to have the demolition not only completed in no more than 45 days, but to also to be one of the few that would be necessary before the relocation to the new Suncrest Middle School within the next 3 to 4 years. According to Campbell, once the work is complete the current school building will be structurally stable and is expected to be in full use until it closes when the new school located by the West Virginia University Research Park is completed. With plans to inevitably demolish the current Suncrest Middle School facility, the school system is happy that no more renovations are expected to be needed for a facility that will be moved out of by 2030.
“This will just give us the ability to create a safe environment there at no added expense to the school system, knowing that we’re going to be moving out of the building here in the next couple of years,” he said.