New K-8 school approved to accommodate Pender County growth

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The Pender County Board of Education held a special meeting this Monday morning, looking to address overcrowding in schools as the county’s population grows. 

The board unanimously approved moving forward with a design-build contract for a new K-8 school, which will be built on 145 acres of land near the Hwy. 210 corridor in Hampstead. 

School leaders said a campus in this part of the county would alleviate overcrowding at Topsail-area schools. 

Michael Taylor is the district’s Chief Operations Officer. He said there’s a great need for the school and it will accommodate about 2,000 students. 

“It’s just a great opportunity for us again to open up more seats for our students in the rapidly growing school system that we are,” Taylor said. 

Taylor said he expects this project to take three years from start to finish, and said they are in the preliminary stages of preparing for construction to begin.