Rebuilding of Moorhead High School still going strong

MOORHEAD, Minn. (Valley News Live) - School’s out for Moorhead students, which gives time for construction workers to move full speed ahead to continue building the new high school, which broke ground in the summer of 2021.

It’s a five-year project and is being paid for by a bond referendum for $110 million dollars that passed in November 2019. The design will focus on natural light, small learning communities, and collaborative spaces.

So far, crews are on Phase I, which includes constructing the academic wings, the pool, and common and athletic areas. A portion of Phase I is on hold until the demolition of the high school which is expected to happen at the top of next year. Although, the project has also run into a few challenges.

“You have the struggles of, I don’t know how many students Moorhead has, but going to school while we’re constructing some portions are 10 feet away from the existing building,” said Ben Naylor, the construction manager with Gehrtz Construction Services.

Crews also lost about 60 working days due to weather conditions during the first winter of the project. Naylor says there are more than 100 workers on the construction site per day. Some of the crews are on 45-hour work weeks.

Students are expected to move into the new high school in January and the demolition of the existing high school is expected to happen shortly after the transition.

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