G.W. Carver Middle School in Waco, Texas., has been severely damaged by a fire. and will not be ready to open when classes resume next month.
Flames cut through a large swath of the facility early Tuesday before the blaze could be extinguished, reports the Waco-Tribune Herald. No one was injured.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
Fire officials say the building, constructed in 1956, did not have a sprinkler system.
The fire is forcing students to relocate to Indian Spring Middle School when classes resume on Aug. 23. Indian Spring is about two miles from Carver, according to a news release from the Waco district.
Indian Spring has the space to accommodate all the students from the two school. Indian spring has capacity for more than 900 students. Its projected enrollment for the upcoming school year is 500 students, and Carver’s projected enrollment is 460 students.
The Waco school board is considering whether to hold a $376 million bond election in November; it would include money to replace Carver Middle school. A new facility at the same campus would cost between $70 million and $80 million and would be large enough to accommodate Carver and Indian Spring students.
Both Carver and Indian Springs serve students in sixth through eighth grades and are part of Transformation Waco, an in-district charter school program formed in 2018.
