News - Education

Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009

Breaking ground

OCEAN SPRINGS — Ocean Springs Superintendent Robert Hirsch believes the district’s new high school will be finished just in time for the next population explosion in the city and Jackson County.

He thinks the number of residents and businesses in the eastern part of the county will continue to grow, and the new school will be in the middle of it.

“I am very excited about the project,” Hirsch said. “I think Ocean Springs is experiencing a post-Katrina Renaissance.”

The school district is breaking ground Wednesday on the 300,000-square-foot high school on the corner of Mississippi 57 and Old Spanish Trail. It will be complete either at the end of 2011 or the spring of 2012.

The district purchased 80 acres in that area nearly 10 years ago and because of a land swap now has 100 acres. The school will be built on 40 acres and the other 60 will be preserved as wetlands, Hirsch said.

Plans for the school began to form nearly two years ago when enrollment began increasing after Hurricane Katrina. With the expected growth in that area, Hirsch said it only made sense to build a new school. In September 2008, voters passed a $37 million bond issue for the school, and the total cost will be between $53 million and $60 million.

Hirsch said Ocean Springs didn’t get as much damage from the storm as other cities and therefore didn’t experience the exodus of people. Right now, the district has 15 trailers at various schools.

“We are filled to capacity,” he said. “And the problem continues to get worse.”

As more students enrolled, school officials began talking about building a new high school. Once the bond issue passed, the district started making plans.

At first some people complained that the location was too far from downtown, but Hirsch said that’s where most of the students are located.

“The school district doesn’t just encompass the city limits,” he said. “Forty percent of our students live in Jackson County.”

He added that 60 percent of the district’s students live east of Ocean Springs Hospital.

“All of the building going on is out by Gulf Park Estates and St. Andrews,” Hirsch said. “That’s where all the growth is. It came down to an issue of practicality.”

The new high school will have two floors and be designed for 2,200 students. It includes 104 classrooms, an auditorium that seats 700, a performance gymnasium with 1,500 seats, a vocational technical center and a large courtyard.

The first floor will have the ninth-grade academy, administration offices, a media center, a dining and kitchen area and fine arts.

The second floor will include the math, science, language arts, foreign language, health and special ed departments. It also will house the vo-tech center, library and auditorium.

The football stadium and other athletic facilities will remain in downtown Ocean Springs, but the new school will include girls’ softball fields and practice fields.

“We think having the stadium in the heart of town is a good thing,” Hirsch said.