CLIFTON HEIGHTS, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — In just a few weeks, the freshly painted halls of the newly constructed Clifton Heights Middle School will welcome 800 new students.
“The major driving factor for the school is trying to reduce the overcrowding in our other two middle schools,” said Upper Darby School District Superintendent Dan McGarry. “It will allow us to reduce the overall population at Beverly Hills Middle School and Drexel Hill Middle School that had been functioning at 1,300 and 1,500 students.”
Now, all of its middle schools will have less than 1,000 students.
McGarry said this project did not come easy. The school district has spent years negotiating with the borough and in court to build the school on its own property.
“If we could have started the project when we wanted to, it would have been around 65-70 million. Now you’re looking at a middle school that’s going to come in between 90 and 100 million dollars.”
The ribbon-cutting for the new school is Oct. 8.
Athletic fields for both the district and the community are expected to be built when construction on the school is complete.
