If you have noticed the piles of dirt out by the McIntosh courtyard, then you probably are questioning why is it there and what is being built.  

Construction officially began in June 2018 and is planning on ending in the Fall of 2019, so seniors won’t be around to enjoy the new spaces.    

According to Ms. Stacey Smith, Assistant Principal and Athletic Director, the purpose of the project is to build “12 new classrooms and a multi-purpose room being built in the sense to accommodate our dance team and our cheerleading team,” said Smith. “The main thing was for our competition cheerleaders to be able to have a space to throw cheerleaders in the air… as high as they do!”

Regarding the building itself, “It is going to be 2 stories- six on the bottom, six on the top, and then the other side of the building will be the multipurpose [room]” Smith said. 

The building will be connected to the Social Studies/Foreign Language hall; however, it will not attach to the registrar’s side. Design-wise, the windows will resemble the floor-to-ceiling rectangle that many classrooms already have in our main building. However, there is concern that windows facing the baseball field with such close proximity may be knocked out if our baseball stars hit any home runs!  There are still kinks to work out like the possibility of adding a net to protect the new infrastructure. When questioned about the cost of construction, Smith noted she was not completely sure but the last time she heard it was $5.6 million.

McIntosh’s current number of students is 1714 which is hundreds over capacity.  However, Ms. Smith noted that it was “ironic” in the fact that “We [the McIntosh building] were probably over-capacity when we went to school. When we graduated here,” she noted as she referred to herself and to Assistant Principal Mr. Dan Lakly across the table – another graduate of McIntosh.  Smith said our district is “the most condensed area in the city if you think about it. Our district if very small but it is packed! We are a very unique culture, unique environment in that so many of y’all can actually drive to school because of golf carts.”

Since its opening in 1981, McIntosh has undergone many renovations including the most recent Skywalk which connects Math to English through a modern glass hallway.  McIntosh’s innovations and new technologies continue to prosper the rigorous learning environment McIntosh provides.