New Fayette middle school postponed indefinitely
Here is a rendering of Lexington’s next middle school, set to open in 2023 on Polo Club Boulevard.
JRA Architects/Fayette County Public Schools
The Fayette County school board on Monday postponed indefinitely a proposed new $70.5 million middle school on Polo Club Boulevard in Lexington with a 3-2 vote.
Board chairman Tyler Murphy, and board members Amy Green and Christy Morris voted to table the project. Stephanie Spires and Tom Jones voted against that because they want to move ahead, citing the district’s current overcrowded middle schools.
To allow the administration time to “ reassess, review and reissue” the bids, Green asked that the approval of the new middle school be “tabled” until a time “that is yet to be determined.”
Green described the postponement as a “pause.”
Fayette district officials have been trying for years to build a new middle school in the growing residential area of Hamburg.
If the project eventually moves ahead, it would be the first new middle school built by Fayette County Public Schools since Edythe J. Hayes Middle School in 2004, which cost about $18 million for 900 students.
A 49 percent cost increase led Fayette schools board members on Nov. 8 to delay approving the project by a few days. But on Monday, the three board members who wanted to table the project said they want to rebid the planned school.
In spring 2020, Fayette County Public Schools purchased 47 acres of land along Polo Club Boulevard for a new middle school and elementary school.
The middle school was planned for 1,200 students and will be 171,983 square feet in size. Land costs for the Polo Club Middle School were $13.7 million.
This article will be updated.
