Bradenton City Council approves new middle school at Bradenton Christian

BRADENTON -- The $3.7 million Bradenton Christian School project to build a new middle school building was unanimously approved Wednesday night by Bradenton City Council.

The project involves a 16,642-square-foot, two-story building to be added to the Bradenton Christian School campus, a 24-acre site at 3304 43rd St.

A celebratory ground-breaking will be held Nov. 20, with Oden Hardy Construction Co. of Bradenton beginning work shortly thereafter. The new building is expected to open for classes in August.

With enrollment increasing nearly 25 percent in two years, BCS was running out of space for more than 700 students. Maintaining small class sizes is a high priority of Bradenton Christian School, so the expansion plan was conceived.

Superintendent Dan Vande Pol and development director Heidi Sikkema met with an anonymous donor with strong family ties to Bradenton Christian School last year. The donor offered to fund $2.4 million toward the cost of a new middle school, with the balance raised by BCS.

In 15 months, Zoller Autrey Architects of Bradenton and ZNS Engineering of Bradenton worked the project through the design and city approval stages.

A final vote approving the newest addition was recently held by the school's Parent Association.

Each of nine new classrooms will take advantage of multimedia learning trends and be fitted with 70-inch interactive HDTVs, laptops for each student, document cameras and projectors.

Two science labs complement the classrooms and will be equipped with Forward Vision I Four-Student workstations with their own sinks and Octagon Lab workstations, which will allow for collaborative learning experiences.

Extra-wide hallways have been incorporated into the design to allow for social interaction, devotions, announcements and a more enjoyable "middle school experience."

The new middle school will be just south of the high school building, which will receive a facelift.

A covered walkway connecting the buildings and the 17,000-square-foot McClure Center for Fine Arts and Media Technology will complete the project.

A dedication ceremony was held recently following completion of the new Mary Jane Spencer Athletic Building and Bouwer Athletic Complex.

Information: Go to BCSpanthers.org or call Jennifer Calhoun at 941-792-5454.

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Bradenton City Council approves new middle school at Bradenton Christian ."