(Video) ‘Buckle up’: City schools break ground on new middle, primary school additions

Published 1:45 pm Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Additions to Cullman Middle and Primary Schools are officially underway after Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff was joined by school board members, faculty and city officials to break ground on the projects Tuesday morning.

“Put your seat belt on, it’s gonna be a busy three years,” Kallhoff told middle school principal Jake Johnson.

While school officials estimate additions to the primary school — including a new 12 classroom wing, cafeteria and second access point along Oak Avenue — to be completed within an 18 month timeframe, construction at the middle school is projected to be complete by fall 2023.

By completing the project in multiple phases, students will be able to transition into a new 16 classroom wing and out of the current round building before its demolition to make way for a new library, agriscience and performing arts area.

Red oak trees that occupied the middle school’s future location have been sent to Rustic Lodge Millworks in Hanceville where they will be used in the new school. Johnson said the collaboration is currently “fluid” but ideas for a conference table and trophy case crafted from the lumber are potential uses.

“We are very excited to have this new facility and to not only help with overcrowding at the elementary schools by having the 6th graders transition here, but to also give them what I think will be a much more age appropriate learning environment here at the middle school,” Johnson said.