AUBURN, Ala. (EETV) -- The Auburn City Schools “Master Plan” worth nearly $400 million is officially underway.
ACS has long-term plans to renovate Auburn Junior High School, as well as create a new high school and middle school. Additionally, certain elementary schools will be demolished and replaced all by 2035.
The construction for the high school is already in progress and will have a maximum capacity of 2,200 students. Sitting on a 128-acre plot of land, the school will be located off North Donahue Drive, directly across from the Auburn University Club neighborhood.
The school comes at a time when the city of Auburn expects to see a significant increase in student population.
“We don’t want to find ourselves in a situation 10 years down the road where we haven’t been proactive on the front end to accommodate this growth,” said Daniel Chesser, ACS Board of Education Public Relations Specialist.
The board prioritized naming the new high school early on in the process. They settled on “Plains High School”, which was said to be a nod to the culture of Auburn itself.
“We are choosing a name that will be their identity,” said Wes Gordon, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum for Auburn City Schools.
The middle school will be placed on a newly purchased 88-acre plot of land near Will Buechner Parkway. This school will be built in tandem with Plains High School.
Two of the oldest campuses in the school system, Dean Road Elementary and Wrights Mill Elementary, will be the two schools to undergo complete demolition and reconstruction through the plan.
“They’ve truly just reached the end of life,” said Chesser.
Plains High School and the new middle school are set to be completed in August 2028. All other projects are projected to conclude before 2031.
The “Auburn City Schools Facilities Master Plan” is available for anyone to read online: https://www.auburnschools.org/cms/lib/AL01901372/Centricity//Domain/4/ACS%20Master%20Plan_January%202025.pdf
