Brevard Public Schools breaks ground on new middle school in Viera
Under a sunny sky, district leaders and community partners of Brevard Public Schools struck their shovels into dirt just down the road from Viera High School Wednesday, breaking ground on a new middle school.
It was the first step toward building the school, a project that parents began pushing for 15 years ago.
“Today we start the countdown clock,” said Sue Hann, assistant superintendent facilities services for Brevard Public Schools.
“This isn’t just a facilities project, it’s really a project that is focused on our students and is focused on education, focused on learning.
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The school, which will encompass about 138,000 square feet and is targeted for an August 2024 opening date, is estimated to cost $52 million to $55 million to construct. It will be funded mainly through educational impact fees, according to the school board.
The ceremony began with musical performances by Viera High School’s band and cheerleaders, as well as Viera Elementary's school choir.
“They can’t do what they do, and teachers can’t do what they do, unless there’s a building, and we don't have that yet (for middle-schoolers),” said Russell Bruhn, spokesperson for BPS.
“We’re working on it, literally — you guys are going to dig the first dirt here in a few minutes.”
Following the performances, multiple BPS employees, project leaders and community members spoke, including Sen. Debbie Mayfield; Todd Pokrywa, president of the Viera Company; BPS School Board Chair Matt Susin; and Stephanie Soliven, assistant superintendent for secondary leading and learning.
Mayfield praised state and local government’s focus on education, saying Gov. Ron DeSantis has helped contribute to the ability to build the middle school.
“(DeSantis) has made sure that our teachers are getting paid the money they have, which, with the new middle school being built, we’re going to have to recruit and retain quality teachers,” Mayfield said.
“The funding that we have done in the past and the funding that we’re going to do in the future is going to help retain those quality teachers that we need here in Brevard County for our students.”
Pokrywa said the school will be a good thing for students, but also for the economy in Viera and the county in general.
“Our success is linked — we’re arm-in-arm with Brevard Public Schools,” he said. “We’re successful as a master-planned community and in that top selling list when ranked against our peers across the country because of the excellent schools that you deliver here in this community.”
He added that Viera was ranked in January as the eighth-best selling community in the United States, according to a list released by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, LLC and RCLCO Real Estate Advisors.
Susin, a former Viera High School teacher, expressed gratitude to see the middle school finally being built.
"I wanted to sit here and say thank you to everybody from beginning to end," he said. "When I was coming into the school district, they were talking about the largest recession ever. ... what ended up happening? We came back."
After school board members, community partners and others thrust their shovels into the dirt, Susin climbed inside a bucket truck with his young daughters on his lap. As the crowd watched, he dug into the grass, setting in motion the process of building the school.
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or [email protected]. Twitter: @_finchwalker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Viera middle school targets opening in 2024
