• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2022
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

District Breaks Ground on Two-Year, $22.6 Million Matanzas High School Expansion

July 24, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

The groundbreaking scene. (Jason Wheeler/Flagler Schools)
The groundbreaking scene. (Jason Wheeler/Flagler Schools)

There was a blue and white cake, there were golden shovels, there were hard hats imprinted with the names of the principal, the superintendent, the elected officials from the school board, Palm Coast and the County Commission, there were student athletes and cheerleaders, and there was a groundbreaking on the 20,000 square foot addition to Matanzas High School this morning.

The $22.6 million project is the largest on a Flagler school campus since the renovation of Buddy Taylor Middle School and the construction of the Wadsworth-Buddy Taylor cafeteria almost a decade and a half ago (at a combined cost of $43 million.) The project will take two years to complete.




A district release misleadingly placed the cost of the project at $18 million. As a presentation to the school board outlined in May, however, the construction budget alone was $18.75 million. Including the design, a 10 percent contingency fee (in recent years, local government projects have usually used up contingency fees and more) and other costs, the total rises to $22.6 million. (See the costs outlined here.)

The new square footage will combine with renovations of 11,000 square feet within the existing footprint of the school–in Buildings 9 and 10–that will net new classrooms, a larger media center, expanded cafeteria space, and a new central energy plant. The plant and the new building should be completed by December 2024. The renovation phase would follow, and be completed substantially by May 2025. A new pre-engineered metal building will support the school’s physical education programs.

The expansion enables the district to delay building a new high school for a few years. Toward the end of the last school year, in May, Matanzas High School’s enrollment had reached 1,930, compared to Flagler Palm Coast High School’s 2,410 students. At Matanzas, the ninth-grade class was more than 100 students larger than the 11th grade class, and almost that much larger than the 12th grade class. Incoming classes from Matanzas’s feeder school–Indian Trails Middle–are in the 500-student range.




The district as a whole in May topped 13,600 students (including Imagine School at Town Center, the charter school), somewhat more–but not yet much more–than the district’s enrollment for the past decade and a half.

It is also still unclear to what extent Florida’s new law subsidizing private education with public dollars will further erode potential enrollment. The law grants up to $8,000 in taxpayer money per child to families what wish to send the child to private school, or to homeschool.

“This expansion is setting up Matanzas for future growth as we continue to see rooftops rise all around our campus,” Matanzas High School Principal Kristin Bozeman said. “We may have to deal with a few challenges with having a construction zone in the middle of your campus, but in the end, our students, faculty, and staff will have a campus design that will better fit our needs.”

The $1.4 million design of the addition (the building will be attached to Building 5), by Schenkel Shultz Architecture, also reflects an airier, less forbidding look that attempts to combine security with a sense of openness. HA Contracting Corp. of Miami-Dade is the contractor. (Saboungi Construction was the only other bidder, sending in a $14.7 million bid, compared to Ha Contracting‘s $18.75 million. The actual construction budget last November was $14.4 million).

The 2023-24 school year begins for teachers on Aug. 1, for students on Aug. 10. Classes at Matanzas will be conducted normally as work will be phased in as needed to minimize interruptions. Final completion is anticipated to be July 2025.





“This project has taken so much planning,” Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore said. “We’ve talked about this for so long that seeing the work begin is exciting. This brings life to the renderings we’ve looked at over the past year.”

School impact fee revenue is paying for the expansion. In the 2022-23 school year alone, the district collected $6.4 million in impact fees, the one-time fees levied on new construction to defray the impact of development.

“I am eager with anticipation to see the building of new facilities that meet the needs of a rapidly growing student population attending Matanzas High School,” Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin, who was among the ground-breakers, said. “The popularity of the school’s programs fueled by shifting population centers moving north and west make this new facility a smartly planned investment necessary to achieve excellent academic performance concurrent with future growth. One of the most important measures of a community’s value and success is exceptional performance by its school district.”

The ceremonial groundbreaking was held Monday morning on the school campus at 3535 Pirate Nation Way in Palm Coast.

Matanzas High School Principal Kristin Bozeman at the groundbreaking. (Flagler Schools)
Matanzas High School Principal Kristin Bozeman at the groundbreaking. (Flagler Schools)

A rendering of the addition, in the center, and its surroundings.
A rendering of the addition, in the center, and its surroundings.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
You and your neighbors collectively read our articles about 25,000 times each day (that's not a typo) with up to 65,000 daily reads during emergencies like hurricanes. Flagler County residents rely on FlaglerLive for essential, bold and analytical journalism that cannot be found anywhere else. But we depend on your support. Please join our December fund drive! If you donate the cost of a scoop of ice cream, you will be helping us continue to provide comprehensive local news and honest, serious journalism for our community. If you can donate more or become a monthly donor, even better. Donations are tax deductible since FlaglerLive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donate by clicking anywhere in this box. Think of it as buying a scoop, in every sense of the term!  
All donors' identities are kept confidential and anonymous.
   

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. CFK says

    July 24, 2023 at 3:29 pm

    Can someone explain why the company with the lowest bid did not get the contract?

    Reply
    • The Sour Kraut says

      July 25, 2023 at 6:45 am

      Because that worked so well with the splash pad at Holland Park?

      Reply
  2. Dennis C Rathsam says

    July 24, 2023 at 5:21 pm

    Thats super wonderfull…..What about all the traffic on Matanzas Beltway? Traffic is backed up, down the bridge to the dollar store. The 3 Stooges could have made a better plan then the inconciderate fools that keep destroying P/C

    Reply
    • TR says

      July 25, 2023 at 12:52 pm

      A bit of an exaggeration. I’m also guessing you’re referring to Matanzas Pkwy. The traffic right now may back up that far because of the repaving. But I have never seen it back up from the high school to the dollar store 2 miles away since both entities were built. I haven’t travels MP since they started repaving, but even before that it was never backed up more than 5 cars at the traffic lights.

      Reply
      • Dennis C Rathsam says

        July 25, 2023 at 5:58 pm

        BULLSHIT!!!!! At rush hour, with school in session cars are backed up, & its a steddy stream of cars forever. I have seen it everyday, I cant get out of my street unless someone takes pitty, wait ten minutes, or cut someone off. Repaving was a total clusterfuck. My wife waited almost 15 minutes turning right from Belle Ter onto Matanzas BELTWAY!

        Reply
        • TR says

          July 27, 2023 at 12:26 pm

          Capitalizing wordage doesn’t make it fact. It’s not BULLSHIT ( as you called it) The cars may be backed up but not from the high school to the dollar store, hence why I said exaggeration. Oh BTW, where is Belle Ter? Is that in PC? LOL
          By the way if you want to call it like it is. It’s called Matanzas Woods Parkway, get your facts straight.
          I’m out.

          Reply
    • Steve says

      July 25, 2023 at 1:04 pm

      That was funny Dennis. The traffic not so much I’m sure 😊

      Reply
  3. Shark says

    July 25, 2023 at 11:42 am

    No matter what the circus act that is running this town says – the cost will be ten million more at the end !!!

    Reply
  4. Land of no turn signals says says

    July 25, 2023 at 12:26 pm

    Add 5 million before completion.

    Reply
  5. Tim says

    July 26, 2023 at 12:39 pm

    Let’s hope this company doesn’t mess up like the one that built the high school did or it will be twice as much

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Advertisers

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents
  • WNZF Creekside Festival

Recent Comments

  • Ben Hogarth on ‘Faith’ Bridge Over SR100 Goes from Maligned to Acclaimed as It Opens, But in the Absence of Its Champion
  • BeachGuy on Felony Charge for Mom Who Left Child Alone With Dead Man After Night of Sex and Drugs at Hammock Resort
  • Right on Covid Deaths in Florida Near 91,000
  • Edith Campins on School Board Trio Will Hire an Attorney to Help Them Fire Board’s Attorney of 17 Years
  • BLINDSPOTTING on Rezoning Enabling Up to 850 Homes in Seminole Woods Causes Sharp Debate Before Palm Coast Approval
  • jeffery c. seib on 2-Hour Standoff Involving Threats of Gunfire on Brunswick Lane Ends with Arrest of Michael Wells, 57, on 4 Felonies
  • Flapharmtech on Covid Deaths in Florida Near 91,000
  • Angela Smith on A Mixed Bag in New Rankings of Florida’s Colleges and Universities as DeSantis Polarization Dims Luster
  • TR on School Board Trio Will Hire an Attorney to Help Them Fire Board’s Attorney of 17 Years
  • CH on Rezoning Enabling Up to 850 Homes in Seminole Woods Causes Sharp Debate Before Palm Coast Approval
  • Angela and others are fearful on Moms for Liberty: Joyful Warriors or Anti-Government Conspiracists?
  • CH on Rezoning Enabling Up to 850 Homes in Seminole Woods Causes Sharp Debate Before Palm Coast Approval
  • James on School Board Trio Will Hire an Attorney to Help Them Fire Board’s Attorney of 17 Years
  • Another Concerned Taxpayer !!! on School Board Trio Will Hire an Attorney to Help Them Fire Board’s Attorney of 17 Years
  • James on Rezoning Enabling Up to 850 Homes in Seminole Woods Causes Sharp Debate Before Palm Coast Approval
  • Lorraine on School Board Trio Will Hire an Attorney to Help Them Fire Board’s Attorney of 17 Years

Log in