JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duval County School Board held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday on the Westside to mark the beginning of a new place to learn for sixth through eighth-graders.
Chaffee Trail Middle School is the first middle school to be built funded by the half-penny sales tax, which was approved by Duval County voters in 2020.
It is the first middle school building to be constructed in Jacksonville since 2008.
Students performed and school district leaders shared remarks about the Westside’s new addition to education.
The size of the school will be approximately 125,000 square feet and the project’s design and construction budget is approximately $56 million. It’s one of four transformational projects that will be funded by the sales tax.
In September, the design meeting between stakeholders for the new middle school was completed, and the district said it has received conceptual floor plans and proposed building elevations for the new school.
The groundbreaking will be held at Chaffee Trail Elementary on Sam Caruso Way. The middle school will be built not too far from the elementary school.
Construction is scheduled to be finished by August 2024.