Brand new Hibbard Elementary School ready for students
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REXBURG — A new elementary school will soon house hundreds of students in Madison County.
Teachers, staff, volunteers and Madison School District #321 employees have been working since Monday, bringing trailers full of desks, chairs, books and school supplies into the newly built Hibbard Elementary School.
It’s located at 2335 North 3000 West and has taken about a year and a half to build. It’s right behind the old Hibbard Elementary School.
“We’ve had great support from our teachers and other staff throughout the district. A lot of support from the community. There’s a lot of excitement about it,” said Madison School District #321 Superintendent Randy Lords.
The elementary school comes after a $25.5 million bond in 2022.
“That bond was to build a new Hibbard Elementary School, build classrooms and an addition to the lunchroom at the junior high and then a remodel to our old Hibbard for an early childhood center … so that’s where our preschool will be moved to,” Lords explained. “Right now, our preschool is currently housed in Burton Elementary, but the Burton area is growing so much.”
Lords said the old Hibbard Elementary School has nine classrooms. The new school has 19.
“It’s almost double. We can fit about 650 (students) in this elementary school. In the last one, we were at capacity at 185. We actually had a trailer out back with two classrooms,” he said.
The old school is estimated to be about 20,000 square feet. The new one is 50,000 square feet. There are a total of 12 teachers, with two new teachers who have already been hired.
The elementary school came about due to growth and projected growth in the Madison County area.
“Right now, we’ll open up with 10 of the classrooms being used, and then the other nine classrooms will move into different STEM programs,” he said. “We knew the growth was coming, and we’re seeing the growth. Our kindergarten numbers are growing. Our second-grade numbers are growing.”
He showed EastIdahoNews.com around the brand-new school, which is very similar to the design of other schools in the district.
“This is the third time we’ve built this building. Ten years ago, we built Burton Elementary and South Fork Elementary, and we used the same pattern, which saved us several million dollars to use the same plan,” Lords said.
However, district officials made some adjustments to the plan.
“For example, what we did on this one is we increased the size of the gym. So in the other two buildings, it’s lunchroom, gym and that’s it. In this building, we have a lunchroom, gym and gym. We have widened it a little bit,” he said.
Lords added he is grateful for the support of the new school and thankful to taxpayers.
Elementary students will be in the building on Tuesday.
“It will be a great learning atmosphere,” Lords said.
Voters in Madison County have had a history of approving school bond measures. In 2017, the district passed a $27 million bond that added classrooms to two elementary schools, high school classroom additions and a new stadium.
