Work could begin on the construction of a new $30 million elementary school in Las Cruces sometime in early 2023.
The Columbia Elementary School will replace an existing facility with the same name which has been closed for the last three years due to mold infestation.
After that mold infestation was discovered in at least half a dozen classrooms in 2018, the pre-K to fifth grade students at the school were transferred to the across-town Centennial High School.
After looking into the economics of remediating the school, which is located at 4555 Elks Drive and was built in 2003, members of the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education determined that it would be more cost effective to build an entirely new facility.
That determination was made after the state’s Public School Capital Outlay Council said it would cost $7 million for remediating the existing school.
The demolition, instead, is expected to come in at around $2.4 million, with the PSCOC putting up just under $1.4 million of that amount and the Las Cruces district paying for the rest.
Now the district hopes to see the planning and design process begin for the new school by November of this year, with actual construction expected to launch in April 2023.
The new facility will most likely be completed sometime in the spring of 2024.
By Garry Boulard
