Demolition delayed on new Gulfport High School project

GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) -

The first building at Gulfport High was supposed to have come down by now, but the demolition to make way for a new high school has been postponed.

After voters approved the $41 million bond issue last year to build a new Gulfport High School, the superintendent told WLOX the project should start in early 2015.

Here we are in February, and still no demolition. The reason behind the delay is student safety.

Gulfport Superintendent Glen East thought he would start hearing the pounding of the wrecking ball last month. Now, it looks like the first building on the Gulfport High School campus won't be coming down until this summer.

"I would love to have had construction start in January, but wiser heads than mine, as we sat down with the construction team and talking about student safety, the team decided with this first demolition to get the kids off campus, set up the fences and make things as safe as possible this first time around," said East.

As soon as classes let out on June 1, heavy equipment will roll in. The first to go will be the math and science building, the backside of the old gym and nine classrooms in the vocational complex.

The project will be done in phases, so as more buildings are demolished, crews will have a better idea of how the students will move around the construction zones.

"The construction team, the people that are going to actually be here during the building, that gives them a chance to see how our children react to the fences, the gates and so forth," said East.

East said while the demolition work has been delayed, it should not affect the construction timeline.

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Demolition delayed on new Gulfport High School project