Renderings of new Milton Elementary shared

MILTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Students and staff at Milton Elementary School are getting a look at what their new school will look like.

Teachers are looking forward to the day when cleaning flood water and mud out of their classrooms will no longer be a concern.

“We’re on the end where it does flood all the time,” fourth grade teacher Amber Chapman said. “We’re the ones who have to move all our stuff out of our classrooms.”

Virtual renderings of the new building are being shared by McKinley Architecture.

“We’ve been looking forward to this for what seems like forever,” Milton Principal Shannon Leggett said.

“It’s exciting for our kids, for our community,” Chapman, who’s also on the committee for the new school, said.

The new building will be located along Newmans Branch Road within view of Interstate 64.

The original plan was to have the new school located next to the current one, but with the Milton floodwall project being delayed, school officials say they can’t build the new school in a flood zone.

“It is a little disappointing,” Chapman said, “because this is where it’s always been, and it’s so easily accessible to everything, but it was one of those things, it was either move it or not get it.”

The building will be two stories, with kindergartners and first-graders on the first floor. There will also be rooms for special education, music, and art.

“The floor plans looks great,” the principal said.

“All the new technology and everything we’ll be able to provide for them will be fantastic,” Chapman said.

Cabell County Schools spokesperson Jedd Flowers says they still have to go through a bid process, but the hope is the new building will be completed by fall of 2024.

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