FVMS campus moving from historical location after 100 years of education

The current Fuquay-Varina Middle School campus has been continuously used as a school building since 1918, but it will finally end its era as a middle school, as construction of a new building is almost complete. 

The building was originally designed to be Fuquay Springs High School, a segregated high school that eventually combined with Fuquay Consolidated High School in 1971 to make our one and only FVHS.

The current building is a national historic building, earning this recognition in 2002. But this only applies to the original building. The gym, auditorium, library, and other halls are not part of the historic building, despite being added on in the 1940s and 50s. 

The move is due to the extreme overcrowding in the current building, with the school’s capacity being 962 and the current number of students being over 1,000. This overcrowding leads to problems like not having enough room in the cafeteria and not enough classrooms for the sheer number of students. 

The FVMS building cannot be torn down due to its historical status, so Fuquay-Varina lawmakers are trying to come up with what to do with such a big campus in the middle of town. 

One of the leading ideas right now is a Regional Ready to Learn Center to give counseling to parents and students with social and emotional special needs.

Another idea is to make it a SCORE building. SCORE stands for Second Chance Online Resource Education, which aims to give support to middle and high school students that are serving long-term suspensions.

A third and less likely idea is to turn FVMS into another elementary school to fight overcrowding in other Fuquay-based schools.

Any of these ideas would require the entire school to go through a major makeover, as the building is very old. Much of the architecture is outdated, and the gym hall smells like 100 years of smelly pre-teens.

“There are all kinds of outdated things. The hundreds of lockers and A/C that doesn’t work are some of the worst,” said FVMS seventh grader Sylom Williamson.

This sentiment is shared by many current and former students of FVMS, but it makes sense that it is so outdated. Education funding has not increased in recent years, and inflation has been making it harder to keep up with small projects, while massive projects, like the new school, are becoming more expensive by the minute.

The new building is currently under construction and will be located at 1201 Bowling Road, about two miles south from the current site. This new building will be a big upgrade, including a flat, non-slanted football field and a track, that will grow both programs to new heights. 

Overall, while this move is sad for alumni, it will help out future generations of children in our community. There will be a FVMS campus farewell this Saturday, May 18, at 11:00 a.m. This event will include past year books to peruse, merchandise for sale, photo booths, and everyone’s favorite, Snoballs! Join FVMS alumni and students on Saturday to celebrate the history of this great school.