Transformation in store for Grier Middle School campus

The Grier Middle School campus is about to undergo a transformation.  Come 2025, students, teachers, and staff will have a new, 155,000 square-foot school building that is sure to become a showplace for learning in the heart of Gastonia.

Most of the planning and architectural design work has taken place.  Once a general contractor is hired, dirt will be moved, foundations will be poured, and a modern school will take shape.  A summertime groundbreaking will mark the ceremonial beginning of construction, which is expected to take two years.  If all goes as planned, the new school will be ready in 2025.

The new Grier Middle will be located on the same 25 acres of land along East Garrison Boulevard where the existing school sits.  The school will be built on what is now the football field; the old building will be demolished to make way for a new sports complex.  The site plan includes more space for parking and additional entrances to improve on-campus traffic flow.

“Essentially, construction will happen in two phases,” said Morgen Houchard, executive director of auxiliary services, who is overseeing the project.  “The school will be built first in a space adjacent to the Schiele Museum with the front of the building facing Garrison Boulevard.  Once the school is complete, the old building will be vacated and torn down to make space for the athletic fields.  This is the same approach we took when building the new Stanley Middle School, capitalizing on use of the land that we have by flipping the location of the school building and the fields.”

The new, two-story school will house 1,000 students with the ability to accommodate as many as 1,200.  It will include more than 40 contemporary classrooms; various instructional, office, and conference spaces; a multi-use media center and library; a large cafeteria and multipurpose room; and a modern gymnasium, which will be located behind the main building.  Once the new school opens, it will take another year to remove the old building and build the football, softball, and baseball fields.

Named for W.P. Grier, who was superintendent of the Gastonia City Schools for 20 years (1921-1941), the school opened in 1956 with about 800 students in grades 1-9; it housed junior high school students only after the elementary grades were moved to the new Sherwood Elementary in 1969.  A building with a gymnasium, office space, and music classrooms was added to the front of the school in the mid-1980s.   

The cost to build a new Grier campus is estimated at $50-$60 million, a price that is higher than previous middle school construction projects because of inflation.  School bonds, which were approved by voters in May 2018, will be used to pay for the new school.  Building on the existing campus saves taxpayer funds because no land has to be purchased.  

The new Grier is part of the Board of Education’s efforts to replace aging school campuses that are being used as middle schools.  Grier is the third facility to be replaced – a new Stanley Middle opened in March 2018, and a new Belmont Middle opened in August 2021.

– Article provided by the Gaston County Schools Communications Department 

“The new Grier Middle School is an investment that will benefit students and families for many years to come.  We are grateful for the opportunity to build this school, which will be another crown jewel for our community.” 
— W. Jeffrey Booker, Superintendent of Schools