The Okaloosa County School District has unveiled plans for a significant expansion at Destin Elementary School, featuring a new two-story addition to house grades 3-5. The school board purchased a 7.6-acre parcel of land adjacent to the school last year.
- The project, approved as part of a $175 million bond issuance, aims to address capacity issues and improve traffic flow at the beachside school.
Dr. Bill Smith, program director for facilities planning, presented details of the project to the school board during their July 22 meeting. “This is an elementary, 3-5 center,” Smith explained. “You’re talking about another two-story wing which will include STEM rooms..30 classrooms, multi-purpose area…new administrative suite.”
In addition to the new classrooms, the project includes:
- A multi-purpose area
- A new administrative suite
- A neutral users lounge
- New gang restrooms to serve the existing cafeteria
- A revised drop-off and pick-up area
- Additional parking
The expansion will allow fifth-grade students currently housed at Destin Middle School to return to the elementary campus. Chambers explained the broader impact:
“This is going to provide capacity at Destin elementary, but it’s also going to allow the fifth grade from Destin middle to come back to Destin elementary. So now we’ll be pre-K through grade five. They will also still have the ability to increase capacity because you don’t want to just build to capacity.”
A key feature of the project is a new access road to improve traffic flow. The service road on the new property that was acquired gives the District access off of Benning Drive. According to Smith, this will “bring parents in and do a loop and carry them back out on Benning to get rid of some of the traffic on Beach and Kelly.”
- The project also involves relocating the existing playground and baseball field to accommodate the new construction.
With this new building, comes the removal of portables.
“This is designed to get rid of the portables that are there,” he said to the board. “And you’ll also be able to get rid of all the portables that you have at Destin Middle School because you’re bringing capacity out of there.”
Construction is slated to begin soon, with completion expected by August 2026. The project is part of a larger initiative to address growth and capacity issues across Okaloosa County schools.
