Photo courtesy of the Jackson-Madison County School System
Jackson-Madison County School System leaders were joined by local dignitaries and members of the business community Monday to participate in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Pope School. The rural lot near the corner of Ashport Road and Pleasant Plains will be transformed into a new Prek-8 campus over the next 18 months.
“In the fifteen years I’ve been in this office, this is one of the absolute top highlights. This has been a high-growth area of our community. It’s sorely needed, and we finally have come to the day we break ground,” said Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris.
Representatives with Henson Construction, the construction manager hired to build the new Pope School, were in attendance along with Orcutt-Winslow, the architecture firm selected to handle the project’s design.
“HCS appreciates the opportunity to work with JMCSS as their construction manager on this long-awaited new Pope School. We look forward to providing professional construction manager services to help build a quality facility on time and within budget,” said Henson Construction President Carey Henson.
The new Pope School will support more than 800 students in grades Prek-8. The current Pope School, which has experienced overcrowding since the 1990s, is the only public school in the rapidly developing northwest corner of Madison County.
“Today’s construction world presents challenges with timely material procurement and sufficient labor availability. HCS will do its best to overcome these hurdles. We are anxious to get site work started this fall,” Henson said.
Several pre-construction activities are expected to take place over the next several weeks before additional site preparation and foundation construction begin.
“This is a celebration of a shared trust between school leaders and county officials. This also serves as an acknowledgement of the exciting future that lays ahead for our community schools across our city and county,” Superintendent Dr. Marlon King said.