The new construction project at New Boston High School (NBHS) will allow students to begin using the facilities in the upcoming school year, officials said.
“We are looking at a September 1 completion date,” said Brian Bobbitt, New Boston Independent School District superintendent. “We’re excited about these new buildings and look forward to opening them up next fall and can’t wait for the opportunities that they’re going to bring to our students and community.”
Both buildings will have outside aesthetics which match the current look of the high school building.
The new buildings will give the district the opportunity to provide additional services to students and the community, Bobbitt said.
“Obviously it will give us more opportunities to provide different things for our kids, both for health science and ag science, in those buildings just because of the availability of sizing space and equipment we will have in there. And also the athletic facility, it’s going to have some opportunities to do things in that location we hadn’t been able to do before,” he said. Construction began on a new athletic complex and career technology education (CTE) facility in March.
The construction projects were made possible by a bond election voters passed in May 2023. The election allowed the district to sell a bond for up to $10 million without raising tax dollars.
The athletic complex, located directly in the center of Lion Stadium, will house the student training room, locker rooms for both male and female sports, coachcorporate es’ offices, a media room, concession stands, public restrooms, and an upstairs level. Upstairs will include a large windowed conference room to host class reunions and viewing parties as well as two rooftop balconies on either side, Bobbitt said.
Concessions and restroom facilities for both home and visitor sides of Lion Stadium will be in one central location with a fence separating them both.
The CTE building, located across College Street from the main campus, will house all agriculture and nursing classrooms. The rear of the building will house pens for small animals and a hosting arena.
The construction occurring during the school year caused a few minor setbacks and modifications in day to day operations, Bobbitt said.
“Obviously it’s affected some of the parking and getting in and out of the buildto ing for guests, but when you have progress, you’re going to have setbacks along the way so we’ve adjusted. We’ve had to adjust some of the things we do in safety, security and monitoring students just to make sure that we can put eyes on students when they’re going back and forth easier,” he said.
In their April meeting, the New Boston City Council approved the placement of locking gates on College Street. The gates will be locked during school hours to allow students to safely cross the street to attend classes.
Construction will continue through the summer months. The track surrounding the stadium will still be available for use to the community, however Bobbitt said there may be brief periods of time when it could be temporarily closed.
