Construction will begin as early as this week on a new elementary school in northern Johnston County. On March 10th, the Johnston County School Board approved a $22,270,900 bid from Wimco Corporation of Washington, NC to construct a new public school on Lynch Road at Highway 42 in the Thanksgiving community.
The contract allows for construction to begin as early as March 18, 2020 with completion by July 16, 2021. The school will open to students in August 2021 for the 2021-2022 school year.
This is the first new school constructed out of the February 2018 OREd growth report. The report recommended four new schools needed to be built as soon as possible. They included two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. The 2018 school bond referendum only included enough funds for one of the four recommended schools. The elementary school along with a new high school in the same area were identified as immediate needs on the east side of Clayton.
Once completed, the new Lynch Road elementary school will help with significant growth in the East Clayton area. The school will have a capacity of 886 students and relieve overcrowding at River Dell, Corinth Holders and Riverwood Elementaries. The new school will follow the current prototype design of previous elementary schools and will be similar to River Dell Elementary.
Wimco Corportation was the lowest bidder at $22,270,900. Monteith Construction Company had bid $22,949,000; Farrior & Sons, Inc. Construction $23,235,000; American Southern General Contactors Inc. $23,367,000; and JM Thompson Company $23,800,000.
A separate bid of $291,881.25 was awarded to North Carolina Sound for technology construction.
No name has been assigned to the new elementary school. The board of education will decide on the school name prior to its opening in 2021.
