Topsail High School’s $22M+ Expansion Into Topsail Middle: The Design Vote Is Wednesday

The bond set aside $22 million to turn the middle school next door into Topsail High space, and that is a floor, not a final price. About 830 students leave for J.H. Lea in 2027-28, and the board picks a design Wednesday morning.

Classes started today, and on Wednesday morning the Pender County Board of Education meets for two hours with one item on the agenda: pick a design for the renovation that expands Topsail High into the Topsail Middle School building.

That decision has been open since May. On May 26 three design-build teams presented their ideas for the building, ranging from a light refresh to tearing it down. The board postponed the vote that night. Beth Burns made the motion to wait, saying the presentations raised options she had not expected. The board came back on June 3 and unanimously hired Bordeaux Construction and Moseley, the same team building J.H. Lea. That vote picked the builder.

The design and renovation plan is what comes Wednesday. The staff recommendation in the board packet reads, word for word: “Staff respectfully request that the Board of Education select a design for the Topsail Middle School renovation project.”

Why Topsail Middle Is Being Renovated

Topsail Middle, Topsail Annandale Elementary and Topsail High share one campus in Hampstead. The middle school is 111,000 square feet.

In the 2027-28 school year, roughly 830 Topsail Middle students leave for J.H. Lea, the new K-8 campus off NC 210 in Hampstead that opens in August 2027 and will enroll 2,312 students. That empties a very large building next door to a high school with nowhere to put anyone. Topsail High enrolled 1,883 students in May and was 483 students over capacity, according to Fankboner.

No Known Mold, Asbestos or Lead on the Campus

The RFQ documents reported no known mold, asbestos or lead at the Topsail campus that would require remediation. For a building this old and this close to being gutted, that is good news, and it keeps the $22 million pointed at classrooms instead of abatement.

It is a fair thing to ask about right now. The district’s mold-like growth this month is at C.F. Pope Elementary in Burgaw, outside the Topsail area, where several classrooms were closed and two second-grade rooms are still sealed while cleaning and air testing continue. Closer to home, one classroom at South Topsail Elementary is sealed for additional cleaning and testing. The district has not attributed mold to that room. Both schools opened on schedule today, and the district says the sealed rooms have their own air handlers and do not share air with neighboring classrooms.

None of that involves the Topsail Middle campus.

The Three Approaches Presented in May

The designs the board sees Wednesday are not public. What is public is what the three teams pitched in May, which is the best picture of the range:

TA Loving and LS3P presented three options:

• Renovation: a new drop-off loop, a walkway connecting the two buildings, code and building-envelope fixes, safety upgrades. The team called this the cheapest and least disruptive.
• Replacement: demolish the middle school entirely, add classrooms onto the high school instead, and use the cleared land for a second entrance, more student and athlete parking, and relocated bus access.
• Hybrid: connect the middle school’s newer building and gymnasium to form athletic and ROTC space, expand parking, move the buses.

Monteith and BMH pitched rehabilitation only:

• HVAC, roof, building envelope, ADA work, windows, structure, electrical, plumbing, and a new fire sprinkler system
• Enlarging administration-area rooms toward the 850 square feet NC DPI recommends for high school classrooms, with the 8th grade wing and some science rooms already meeting it and needing only a refresh
• A covered student loading zone, extra parking, an additional queuing lane, a better roundabout, and pedestrian safety work

Bordeaux and Moseley won the June 3 vote and will build the project. Their design and renovation pitch in May was a repurpose and refresh:

• Improved science classrooms
• Roller doors and new lighting
• Ceiling-mounted retractable electrical cord reels
• Removing ceilings in career and technical education classrooms, a media center and a dining commons

None of the three brought pricing. The RFQ responses did not include design-build costs.

What the Bid Documents Say the Building Becomes

Pender County Schools posted this job to the state’s electronic Vendor Portal on March 17, 2026, as solicitation 225-2026-MNT-001, titled “Design-Build Services for Repurposing Topsail Middle School into High School Upper and Lower Campus.” Bidding closed March 31, and the state portal no longer serves a public page for it, so the full scope language is easiest to read in a listing mirror.

The RFQ says the goal is turning the former Topsail Middle School into the Topsail High Upper and Lower Campus. It lists what the work should fix:

• Overcrowding
• Room to expand academic and workforce development programs
• Eliminating the temporary modular classrooms
• Campus safety and vehicle and pedestrian circulation
• Getting more out of buildings the district already owns

That is the district’s stated intent in a procurement document, not a board vote on a name.

What the 2022 Bond Paid For

Pender County voters approved a $177.7 million school bond in November 2022, paired with a 9.25-cent property tax increase. The Local Government Commission approved it in July 2023. It funds five projects:

The $22 million is the bond allocation, not a contract price. Fankboner said in May the final cost depends on a scope nobody has set yet.

If you see the bond figure quoted as $117 million, that number is wrong. Port City Daily’s August 6 story put it at $117 million; the Local Government Commission approved $178 million in July 2023, against a referendum advertised at $177.7 million.

The calendar has also moved. When the LGC approved the bond in 2023, Michael Taylor, then the district’s chief officer of auxiliary services, said the new school would open in August 2026 with Topsail Middle design work following near the end of that project. J.H. Lea now opens August 2027, and the design vote is this week.

Redistricting Is a Separate Topic

Wednesday decides what the building becomes. Redistricting decides who goes there, and that process is running on its own timeline.

The district hired NC State’s Institute for Transportation Research and Education on a $15,000 contract for enrollment forecasting, capacity analysis, community engagement and redistricting options. The board makes the final map decisions.

If you have an opinion about where your kids go to school in 2027-28, the digital assessment in mid-September is the first place to put it, and the information sessions a few weeks later are the second.

Whether redistricting changes who attends the Hampstead campus, nobody will say yet. Fankboner declined to speculate in August, calling it a sensitive issue for families and school communities, and said families should expect more information as options are developed and reviewed by the board.

Open Questions

Four things nobody has answered, not the district, not the board, not any outlet covering this:

• Which designs are on the table. The board packet was generated August 21 and its entire summary of the item is one line: “Discussion of options for TMS renovation.” No renderings, no option list, no cost comparison.
• The construction schedule. “Phased” is all staff has said. No start date, no completion date.
• Where students go during the work. District staff said in June it is unlikely students will be in the building during phased construction.
• The final cost. $22 million is what the bond set aside, not what the job will run.

Wednesday’s meeting may help to answer the first, and additional questions should be directed to the district’s telephone number: 910-259-2187.

How to Follow It

Watch the Pender County Schools YouTube channel at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and check back that afternoon if it was not streamed live. There is no public comment at this meeting. The next chances to be heard are the regular board meeting Tuesday, September 1 at 5 p.m., and the redistricting engagement starting in mid-September.

We will update this page Wednesday afternoon with what the board picked. If you are a Topsail-area parent or a teacher on that campus and you hear something before we do, our inbox is open.

Sources

• Pender County Schools Special Board Meeting board pack, August 26, 2026
• Design-Build Services for Repurposing Topsail Middle School into High School Upper and Lower Campus, solicitation 225-2026-MNT-001 (listing mirror of the NC electronic Vendor Portal posting, closed March 31, 2026)
• WECT: Pender County school board to weigh Topsail Middle School’s future, Aug 24, 2026
• Port City Daily: 3 firms pitch Topsail Middle School overhaul, vote postponed, May 29, 2026
• Port City Daily: Pender school board chooses contractor-architect team for Topsail Middle construction, June 3, 2026
• Port City Daily: Pender County Schools begins redistricting process for new K-8 school, Aug 6, 2026
• WECT: Pender County Schools running out of room as growth shows no signs of slowing, Aug 11, 2026
• WECT: Two Pender County elementary schools to open as scheduled amid mold concerns, Aug 21, 2026
• WWAY: Pender County Schools gets $178 million bond approval for new schools and renovations, July 11, 2023
• Pender County Schools YouTube channel