Construction of the North Powder School District’s new high school may begin in a few months.

“We plan to break ground in March or April,” said North School District Superintendent Lance Dixon.

The new high school was made possible by the $3 million bond voters approved in May 2017.

The new high school will replace the present building, which was constructed about 100 years ago. Dixon said the goal is to have the new high school completed in time for the start of the 2019-20 school year.

The high school will be the first of three phases of bond-funded building work. The other two phases will involve the construction of a physical education building featuring a gym and the expansion of the district’s elementary school. The new gym, which will be constructed in the second phase, is needed because the existing facility, built in the late 1930s, is aging.

Dixon believes that construction of the high school will at times overlap with the building of the gym.

“I don’t see them working in isolation,” he said.

The elementary school will be expanded in the third phase, eliminating the need for the outdated modular where special education and reading classes are now taught.

The Pendleton branch of McCormack Construction Company, which was selected by the North Powder School Board, will be the general contractor and contract manager for all the bond-funded construction projects.