Mother Nature keeps spot warm for TMS groundbreaking
Triad Faculty and Staff Members took their turns with the shovels and hardhats at the groundbreaking ceremony for the district’s new middle school on Sept. 30. (Photo courtesy of Triad School District)
By Charles Bolinger
Editor
Even though the calendar read Sept. 30, Mother Nature decided that 92º was appropriate for Triad Middle School’s groundbreaking ceremony.
After employees removed two sections of perimeter fencing, a surge of guests flooded through the opening. A lectern flanked by dual speakers enabled Superintendent Dr. Jason Henderson and others to give some brief remarks.
In the center was an arc of dirt studded with new shovels and bright red hardhats. Beyond that, a group of Triad Middle School band students gathered where they performed the National Anthem.
Members of the Triad Middle School Band braved the 92º heat to perform our National Anthem during the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Triad Middle School, which is slated to open by the fall of 2027, weather permitting. (Photo courtesy of Triad School District)
Henderson noted that since 1959, the current Triad Middle School served as both a high school (40 years) and a middle school (26 years) and that the new building should not be considered temporary but something the district will use for decades for new opportunities, new technology, new innovations and to create and explore.
Triad Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Jason Henderson, right, and the Triad Board of Education, kick off the ceremonial groundbreaking at the future site of the new Triad Middle School on Sept. 30. (Photo courtesy of Triad School District)
Henderson thanked the district’s voters, who passed a bond referendum in April for $99.2 million, the majority of which is going toward the new middle school’s construction. He thanked the Triad Together and Yes for Triad groups for their support, along with that of the current students, parents, faculty and staff members. He also thanked the board of education for their support.
The mayors from Troy, St. Jacob and Marine attended as well and Henderson thanked Holland Construction and FGM Architects for their current and future work. At the end of the ceremony, Henderson invited anyone who wanted to take photos to come up to the hardhats and shovels and take their turns.
Construction should begin at once and plans call for the building to be open and ready for students and staff members by October 2027, weather permitting. The former baseball/softball dugouts, a few trees and the tennis courts have either been removed or will be gone soon and other, necessary underground work has been completed.
District officials maintain they have not reached a decision on what to do with the current facility, which will be 66 years old in 2026.
Elected officials from Troy, St. Jacob and Marine also visited the groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 30. Triad Superintendent Dr. Jason Henderson is at left. (Photo courtesy of Triad School District)
