The Gloucester County School Board unanimously approved a $25.5 million contract Tuesday with RRMM Architects of Chesapeake for construction of a new middle school.

"It’s going to be fast and furious from this point on," school division superintendent Ben Kiser said of the effort to have the new campus ready by its Aug. 31, 2014 completion date.

The school, to be constructed on a portion of the 138 acres the board owns on T.C. Walker Road, will be built to house 700 students with core facilities for 800. The contract also includes an option for a geothermal system. The new campus will replace the aging Page Middle School on Route 17, which was substantially damaged by a tornado in April and will be razed.

Kiser told the board he had solicited interest among teachers and administrators division-wide in helping to plan the school. Kiser said he received 40 responses and will chose 24 of the respondents to join board members Jean Pugh and Ann Burruss in working with the architects to plan the facility.

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