A new Jackson Central-Merry middle/high school – expected to serve 800 students and concentrate on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects – is targeted to be ready for the 2021 school year.
The school is located in the southeast corner of Lane Avenue and North Royal Street.
“We’ve had challenges with the pandemic, but things are going really well,” said Hal Crocker, president of Crocker Construction Company, “We started almost two months ago with the interior demolition and removal of asbestos.
“We started building on the inside, and we’re going to have a pretty significant addition on the front of the building, and the new roof is going up now.
Our goal is to strip the building, and make it look like new.”
Crocker said while he is trying to take something old and make it look new, he is trying to ‘be sensitive to the history of the building and the area.’
“Everything will be new, and what we want is a modern, state of the art building, built to the needs of the modern school system,” Crocker said, “But it’s been a centerpiece of civil rights movement.”
Costs for a new facility are estimated at $20.2 million, with an estimated cost of $874,274 per year for seven years, with a required loan amount of $16,190,267 due after seven years.
(PHOTO: Jackson Central-Merry High School)
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