With the 2024-25 school year fast approaching, work continues at the new Frederick D. Thomas Middle School in Lewes.

At the Aug. 22 school board meeting, construction manager Dean Johnson, CEO of Richard Y. Johnson & Son, said the gym floor will not be completed until a few weeks after the school year begins. 

After the meeting, Johnson said all classrooms and administrative areas are ready.

“We just need to get all the construction debris off site, which we are currently doing,” Johnson said. “The sports fields look really good right now with all the irrigating we did over the summer.”

Construction began on the 95,104-square-foot, $63.9 million facility in 2022 after Cape Henlopen School District residents approved the third middle school by referendum in 2018.

Designed to alleviate crowding at Beacon and Mariner middle schools, the building is located on the site of the former Shields Elementary School off Savannah Road.

Former Beacon Principal Dave Frederick will serve in the same role at Fred Thomas, and former Lewes Elementary CAP teacher Meghan Catts is assistant principal.

The three-story building sits just across Sussex Drive from Lewes Elementary and will serve 600 students in grades six through eight. Sixth-graders will be on the first floor, with ascending grade levels occupying upper stories. 

All classrooms overlook athletic fields behind Lewes Elementary, where pathways take pedestrians to the Fred Thomas Building on DuPont Avenue. Cape High grad and architect Bryan Williams of ABHA Architects designed the new school.

An Aug. 26 district Facebook post announced that the planned Aug. 27 Meet the Teacher Night has been moved to 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 3, because work is still being done and the building was not ready for families to visit.

The school year begins Wednesday, Sept. 4.