Progress being made on Harrisonburg’s second high school

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Construction on Harrisonburg’s second high school got off the ground earlier this year and progress continues as 2022 rolls around. Part of the new building is now visible from Interstate 81.

Nielsen Builders resumed construction on the building back in July and now all excavation is complete. The building’s concrete base is in place, and its pipes are being installed underground.

“You can see different sections of the school that will continue to be put up in terms of the concrete work and the steelwork,” Kristen Loflin, chair of the Harrisonburg City School Board, said.

The building’s two main sections of concrete slabs for the school’s walls are complete and, most recently, the steel beams that form the building’s skeleton have gone up.

The school is currently on pace for the targeted December 2023-2024 opening date, and the school division is also in the early stages of naming the new school.

A student advisory committee to Superintendent Dr. Michael Richards will have a hand in the naming process.

“I think how lovely to have our current students and our future students at this school being able to put forth with a lot of consideration a potential name for the school,” Loflin said.

The school division said there will be other opportunities for public input on the name in the coming months.

As construction on the building continues into the new year, school division staff will begin working on a plan to determine which city students will attend the new high school.

Copyright 2021 WHSV. All rights reserved.