The final days for a middle school building that saw three generations of student memories arrived this month with the demolition of Tennyson Middle School.
Crews started the work of tearing down the 63-year-old middle school last week, pulling down walls and separating any reusable metal and other material into piles.
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Demolition of the old Tennyson Middle School is unfolding this month in the shadow of its replacement, which will welcome students Aug. 14.
Standing nearby, and in some places physically casting a shadow on it, is a new $77.6 million Tennyson Middle School, part of the $355 bond package that Waco Independent School District voters passed in 2021 to build four new schools.
District workers have begun moving furniture into the new Tennyson, whose front faces Sanger Avenue, with teachers and staff expected to move in starting next month.
The middle school will see its first students Aug. 14, when classes begin for the 2024-25 school year. The two-wing school, built off a similar floor plan used for the new G.W. Carver Middle School, can house more than 1,000 students and includes a band hall and two gymnasiums. An eight-lane running track will be constructed this fall on the part of the campus where the old Tennyson building stood.
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Demolition of the old Tennyson Middle School is unfolding this month in the shadow of its replacement.
![Tennyson](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=150%2C94 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=200%2C126 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=225%2C142 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=300%2C189 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=400%2C252 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=540%2C340 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=640%2C403 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=750%2C472 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=990%2C623 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C651 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C755 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C839 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C929 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/wacotrib.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/60/960c6150-3936-11ef-883d-7bfa61128f64/668541f8056e7.image.jpg?resize=1815%2C1142 2008w)
The move-in process at the new Tennyson Middle School will start next month, and students will get their first look as classes start Aug. 14.
Tennyson is the second of the four schools covered by the bond issue to finish its construction. G.W. Carver Middle School opened last August.
The new Waco High School and Kendrick Elementary School plus an expanded South Waco Elementary are expected to open in fall 2025.
Waco ISD Superintendent Susan Kincannon told trustees at their meeting last week that demolition of the old Tennyson building should be completed by July’s end.
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A demolition crew sorts materials as it clears out the old Tennyson Middle School.
Though located in essentially the same place, Tennyson Middle School will start the 2024-25 school year with a much-needed new look. To mark the significant progress on the new building, Waco ISD held a beam signing Monday, in which Tennyson students, faculty, alumni, Waco ISD board members and other community members came throughout the day to sign their names on what will be the highest-placed beam in the building, enshrining themselves permanently in the new space.