NSHS’s Massive New Expansion Will Triple the Size of the School

In the past, the North Scott school board has discussed plans for a massive new expansion for our high school. However, they haven’t figured out where to build any of this expansion up until now. The North Scott school district has okayed the plans to build our new expansion underneath the existing high school, giving them plenty of space to build what they need.

“The new North Scott expansion will TRIPLE the size of our school, all through the addition of another floor to our building!” — Anonymous Staff Member

A graph showing the projected class for upcoming years

The Expansion

As our school district grows, North Scott has had to expand the district’s facilities over time to keep up with the growing number of students. New buildings have been built or remodeled over time to meet our needs. In recent years, some of the notable changes or additions include the Regional Innovation Center, the new football field and track, and the remodeled theater. However, once again, North Scott is making plans for another expansion, expected to be completed by the beginning of next school year.

Our district is planning on adding at least 25 more classrooms, multiple new music rooms for band and orchestra, a second strength training facility (similar to the LAB), and a brand-new state-of-the-art aviation facility to our high school. This will be a massive project, but it will be necessary to complete. All of this is necessary because our class sizes have been consistently increasing for years. It’s projected that there will be at least 2,000 students just in the class of 2036 — that’s almost twice the number of students we have in the entire high school as of this year. Because of this massive influx of students, North Scott is adding these additions to the high school to prepare for this. 

Although our district knew it needed to make this change, one question remained: Where would North Scott put these new facilities?

A map of the planned tunnels connecting the three North Scott schools in Eldridge.

Underground Tunnels

The school board found that there wasn’t enough space directly connected to the high school to build these new additions, so they decided that they would need to create another level to the high school. However, creating a second floor for the high school would take far too long to complete by next school year and would make our school unusable for far too long, so our district decided to do something else entirely to overcome these challenges. North Scott is planning on digging underground facilities to add these expansions.

Their plan is simple: spend the rest of the school year and summer digging out tunnels under the high school. This will allow classes and activities to continue while still completing the expansion before next school year. These “tunnels” will become a basement underneath our school, giving us plenty of room for this expansion. Additionally, more tunnels are planned to connect the high school to the junior high and Ed White Elementary School. Within the next 10 years, North Scott plans on connecting these tunnels to the other elementary schools as well.

An image of a retractable field, similar to what the NS football field will be like to allow aircraft to enter and exit the underground facility.

New classrooms and music facilities will be built directly underneath the main school building, while the new strength training facility will be built under the LAB. Additionally, North Scott’s new aviation facility, which will house trades classes to learn how to build planes and allow students to take pilot’s lessons, will be built directly under North Scott’s football field. The field will be retractable, allowing it to open up and allow planes or helicopters to exit the underground facility.

The Future

This exciting new expansion for North Scott will be a great way for our school to grow. Additionally, the school district has discussed how, by building underground, they leave a lot of room for growth. If the school keeps growing, they’ll be able to excavate even more underground rooms and tunnels. Personally, I’m very excited about this new addition to the school.

April Fools! 

All data and information in this article are completely made up. Although North Scott has been expanding a lot lately, this article is a large exaggeration of the many changes taking place at North Scott.