BY KARISSA MILLER
The community got its first look at the updated design for the new Parkertown Elementary School, which has a construction budget of $52 million, during Monday night’s Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education meeting..
The new elementary school, which will be located at 218 Parkertown Road in Mooresville, will be designed for a capacity of 720 students. It is expected to be open in the fall of 2027.
The new school is needed because of the rapid population growth in the southern end of the county.
According to I-SS Chief Operations Officer Mark Shinkaruk, enrollment in the district’s three elementary schools in the southern end of the county was 307 students over capacity in May of 2025.
The county is also in the process of paying for the construction of a new high school, which will cost $130 million. That figure does not include the cost of athletics facilities, which are estimated to cost an additional $35 million.
The original plan was to build a new elementary school that could accommodate around 1,000 students, but that was not feasible with the county’s original budget.
“We quickly realized that we weren’t able to deliver the project to the size and the capacity that the district was looking for,” said Rob Woodruff, managing principal of ADW Architects.
Woodruff explained that the finished product will be able a “high tech, state-of-the-art educational environment” for 720 elementary students.
The shape of the school works with the existing contours of the site, which minimizes the need for grading work. The classrooms, which are on both side of the corridors, are designed to allow natural light to come into the space.
Spaces include classrooms for kindergarten through fifth grade, a cafeteria, media center, gymnasium, administration space and support spaces.
“Some of these core amenities will allow for occupation of up to 900 students. So, in the future, if you expand, you have the core capacity already built into this project,” Woodruff explained.
Woodruff said the design work will be complete by the end of 2025. Construction is expected to start in 2026.
In November 2024, the board selected ADW Architects as the district’s architecture firm. JM Cope Construction, which has an office in Hickory, was selected as the construction company for the project.
I-SS is using Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) as the project delivery method, which involves hiring a construction manager early in the design phase to oversee the project. The CMAR is financially responsible for any costs that exceed the Guaranteed Maximum Price.
The total project construction budget or Guaranteed Maximum Price is $52 million. This price includes technology, furniture, fixtures and equipment, officials stated.
Next Steps
In the upcoming months, the district will select a mascot, colors, mission/vision and involve the community in that process. The district will work with Western Piedmont Council of Governments on the redistricting process. This will determine which students will attend the new elementary school.