New middle school building ready for students at Lakeview Academy

As students head back to classes at Lakeview Academy in Gainesville on Tuesday, they'll have some more room to spread out.

 

The school and local community gathered this week for the ribbon cutting on a new middle school building, a move that enabled the private school to shift things around in its facilities.

 

"We've just kind of moved things around in the original buildings, and it's really given us what we've needed," Head of School Dr. John P. Kennedy said.

 

The new facility started with a strategic plan by the school's board of trustees.  It called for a new academic building, and the Lakeview Forward Campaign was launched.

 

Kennedy said the campaign reached its goal, and the building came in at $3 million.

 

"We reached the goal and built the building under budget and earlier than we expected."

 

Kennedy said the school was very fortunate to meet its fund raising goal in a community with, "so many good organizations to give to."  The project is also debt free.

 

"As I told our teachers, 'the people that gave for this project did so because of the teachers and the experience their children are having now or have had.  A number of them won't have a child that will take a class in that building.  They gave because of the experience they had here.'" Kennedy said.

 

The two-story, roughly 16-classroom building will house sixth, seventh and eighth grade students.  It also has technology rooms for kindergarten through eighth grade robotics and some science labs.

 

What had been the middle school for roughly the past 20 years will now be home to fourth and fifth grade students with a dedicated lower school science lab.

 

"We've seen a growth both in our lower school and our middle school the last few years, and this gives us the opportunity to admit more students who are capable of doing well in a Lakeview education," Kennedy said.

 

The building wouldn't be complete without a name, and Lakeview wouldn't be complete without Ferrell Singleton, according to Kennedy.

 

The new facility was named after Singleton, the man who served for 26 years as the head of school at Lakeview.

 

"When you talk to any of the alumni and the parents, almost every one of them say that Lakeview Academy wouldn't be here without Ferrell Singleton," Kennedy said.

 

He said the reaction from Singleton was, "very emotional."

 

As for what's next in Lakeview's building future, Kennedy said it won't be a $3 million effort, but it will start soon.  It involves the fine arts annex.

 

"It could be about a $600,000 renovation, and we're looking to start that immediately.  We finished Lakeview Forward.  It was successful, and we're going to do something geared specifically to the fine arts," Kennedy said.