Fairborn shares look at new Baker Middle School as demolition begins on old site

“For the safety of workers and our community, the entire property will be considered a construction site and will be closed to the public for the duration of the demolition project,” the district said.

Once the demolition project begins, souvenir bricks will be placed on the corner of Dayton Drive and Lincoln Drive each morning by 10 a.m. Bricks will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, per the district.

The current Baker Middle School building, at 200 Lincoln Drive in northern Fairborn, was constructed in the early 1950s and served as Fairborn’s high school.

From about 1970 until the early 1980s, Fairborn had two high schools — Baker and Park Hills. Baker was named for longtime superintendent H.K. Baker.

When Fairborn went back to one high school in the 80s, it was the Park Hills site, on East Dayton-Yellow Springs Road. The Baker site became a middle school.

Now the district is preparing to build a new $60 million middle school, next to the new Fairborn High School that opened last fall on Commerce Center Boulevard.

Renderings for the new middle school were shared during the Fairborn Board of Education’s February meeting, though the final design elements are subject to change.

“We are thankful for the Fairborn community’s continued support. This will be the last building built in the district,” Superintendent Amy Gayheart said. “Fairborn will have the newest and most modern educational facilities, PreK to 12th grade.”

After voters approved a 2016 tax issue to leverage state funds, the district built and opened the new Primary School in 2020 and Intermediate School in 2022. A second bond issue approved in 2020 helped fund the new $95 million high school.

A groundbreaking for the new Baker Middle School is planned for April, and the completed school is expected to open in 2027.

Schematic designs and the layout of the new school are complete, according to school officials.

The contract for abating and demolishing the old Baker Middle School was awarded to Mound Waste and Demolition for $912,600, which came in under the state’s estimate, board members were told in February.