Cumberland County officials yesterday held a ribbon-cutting for the county's much-anticipated $32.9 million high school and middle school complex.

The 171,500-square-foot school, which houses Cumberland High School and Cumberland Middle School in separate wings, will be able to accommodate 1,250 students but it will open next month with about 870 students.

Enrollment at the high school, which will serve students in ninth through 12th grades, will be about 530 students. Enrollment at the middle school, which will serve students in the sixth through eighth grades, will be about 340 students.

While some work remains on the building, the school is essentially finished four months ahead of schedule, officials said yesterday.

"This is a great day for the Cumberland County school system and for Cumberland County," School Board member George Reid Jr. said shortly before the program started. "It took 10 to 15 years for it to come to be, but it's all worth it."

Revenue from a landfill planned for the county will pay the debt services for the school and other projects, said William F. Osl Jr., chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

The new facility was long-needed, Osl said. Several years ago, a fire severely damaged the high school, and "every time it rained it flooded the library," he said.

"The kids had to walk outside in all kinds of weather, and it was an open campus so there were always concerns about security," said Michelle Bell, assistant superintendent for human resources.

Placing the students under one roof helps alleviate many of those concerns.

The cramped locker area is gone and now combination lockers are in the hallways, Bell said.

Each classroom on the middle school side has seven computers and seats 24 students, Bell said. The school system already provides computers for each high school student.

"Everything is wireless," she said.

Both two-story wings also have elevators.

Much of yesterday's program was held in the "cafetorium," a cafeteria that doubles as an auditorium complete with stage. The area, which will be used by middle and high school students, can seat 300 as a cafeteria and 400 as an auditorium, Bell said.

The program yesterday was by invitation only, but the school system is encouraging residents to attend the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the school at 10 a.m. Saturday. The ceremony at the school will be conducted by Masonic Lodge No. 283.

Superintendent James Thornton said Cumberland has been pushing hard to establish itself as a model rural school system. It has put a premium on technology, cut the dropout rate and increased the number of students in advanced-studies programs. And the system will continue to improve, he said.

"As our children enter this beautiful new building designed to provide a 21st-century education, I want to remind you this is not the end," Thornton told the crowd.
Contact Jamie C. Ruff at (434) 392-6605 or jruff@timesdispatch.com.