Construction of a major addition to Destin Elementary School is well underway, with foundation work completed for a new two-story, 30-classroom building, Assistant Superintendent Grant Meyer reported at Monday’s Okaloosa County School Board workshop.
- Meyer presented aerial photographs showing significant progress at the construction site, including foundation work for the classroom addition, an outline of new roads, and a retention pond on newly purchased property.
The expansion is being built on a 7.6-acre parcel adjacent to the school that the district purchased last year. In addition to classrooms, the project includes a new entrance road, roundabout, and parking improvements.
School Board Member Linda Evanchyk noted the scope of the addition. “Thirty classrooms is like a whole other school,” she said.
Superintendent Marcus Chambers explained that the expansion will allow fifth-grade students to return to Destin Elementary from Destin Middle School.
- “This right here is about bringing the 5th grade back to Destin. So a whole other grade level,” Chambers said. “There will be capacity for K-5 at Destin.”
The project is part of a broader initiative to address capacity issues across the district. According to Chambers, the expansion will also help relieve overcrowding at Destin Middle School, which has grown from about 500 students “way back in the day” to more than 800 currently.
“The overwhelming majority of our schools are over capacity,” Chambers said. “This is the process of helping to remedy that…as well as other projects to come to substantially reduce portables throughout the county.”
The Destin Elementary expansion was approved as part of a $175 million bond issuance. When completed, the school will house grades K through five, with the new addition specifically designed for grades 3-5.
Construction is expected to be completed by August 2026.
