Officials to hash out MHS plan

by Larry Chowning –

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) and Middlesex County School Board (MCSB) will sit down together next month and hash over the possibility of modernizing Middlesex High School (MHS) in Saluda.

Architects presented three possible options that ranged in cost from $20.5 to $40.7 million.

The first option would cost $20.5 million; second option, $30.9 million and a third option $40.7 million. The first option would add 16,000 square feet to MHS. The second option would add 23,000 square feet; and the third option 50,000 square feet. The costs of the three options are figured on costs of $350 per square foot.

At the Sept. 13 MCBS meeting, Harmony Village Supervisor Reggie Williams asked Dr. Seitz if the school board had a price from architects on building a new high school.

Williams has advocated moving the high school to a larger site in the county and building a new facility. He is concerned that the amount of space at the MHS site is small and limited.

Dr. Seitz said to Williams that space is “tight” on the MHS campus, but a new build was not considered as an option by architects, because the school board did not request it.