The Chesterfield County (Virginia) district has opened a new 238,963-square-foot campus for Falling Creek Middle School in North Chesterfield.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the $103 million facility, built to accommodate 1,800 students, is the largest middle school in central Virginia.
The building has a 1,000-seat auditorium, a 1,200-seat gym and a cafeteria that can hold 650 students at a time.
The three-story design enables sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students to be placed on separate floors.
"When you talk about grade levels being on the same floor, it allows the teachers on that floor to develop those relationships and see those kids on a daily basis," said Falling Creek Middle School principal Quincy Waller. "And it also provides - on each floor - a school counselor and an administrator, so they have someone who is in direct support of them on every level."
Each grade will have 19 classrooms and five science labs. Other features of the school include an auxiliary gym, a music suite, a media center, conference rooms and teacher workrooms.
In the old building, Falling Creek had to hold grade-specific assemblies in shifts because everyone could not fit in the old auditorium. In the old cafeteria, the individual grades were split up for lunch because of space restrictions. The school also struggled to fit spectators in the gym for sporting events.
The old Falling Creek building will be used as swing space for the next two years and house Bensley Elementary students while a new campus is built.
