WACO, Texas — After a fire destroyed the school in the summer of 2021, G.W. Carver Middle School is on track to open to students this fall, according to Waco ISD.
Walls of the school are going up this month and the shell of the school is set to be complete in the coming weeks.
The $73.3 million project is one of the schools that are a part of a $355 million bond passed by voters in November 2021. The original bond amount was reduced by over $12 million after the fire.
Waco ISD's chief officer of facilities and operations, Gloria Barrera, said because students were moved off campus, the timeline of the project was expedited.
"We're able to do the whole Carver build basically like a new ground-up construction and not have to deal with the challenges of an occupied school on the same site," Barrera said.
The district broke ground on the new school in May.
Currently, G.W. Carver students are attending Indian Spring Middle School. Come August, students from both schools are set to move to the new Carver building.
Waco ISD has consulted the school's historic alumni association throughout the process to preserve elements of the school's history.
"They assured us that they were going to try to do their very best to preserve what began in 1956," said Charles Perkins, who attended the school in the early 1960s.
The school opened in the 1950s as one of the first schools in Waco for Black students during segregation.
After integration in 1970, the school closed and was later reclaimed in 1980.
A fire destroyed 40 percent of the building on July 27, 2021. It is now set to reopen in August 2023.
"We've already started talking with the contractor about staging areas and how we can begin moving into the school even before the completion date," said Barrera.
