Makeover In Works For Millbrook H.S.

Millbrook High School principal Dana King said the school is out of date and out of space.

"Without electrical, heating, air [conditioning] and space, we're not where we need to be and we're not competitive because of that," she said.

"It could be a better situation, but you work with what you got," civics teacher Chris East said.

The main part of the school was built in 1967 and in many ways, the school represents that part of its past. Twelve of the 22 mobile units from that time are still being used, but renovations are on the way.

The school's practice field will be transformed into a mobile community later in the year. Six modular units will house 44 classrooms. The modular units come with rest rooms and hallways.

"My thinking is we will never, ever get a mobile trailer again," Dana King said. "This one is exciting because in the end, we don't just get a renovation. We get a brand-new building."

Michelle Stoakes graduated from Millbrook High School in 1980 before all the other new schools were around. She said the construction will not only build up the school, it will build up the students.

"It will be exciting for the school and the area probably," she said.

School officials are trying to determine whether the students in the mobile units will have lockers or not. That is just one of the issues they hope to resolve before construction begins.

Construction for the $27.6 million project should be complete in the spring of 2006.