Flooring is placed on the gym Tuesday at the new Freeport Middle School in Buffalo Township. After a 14-month, $30 million construction project, the new school will open Tuesday. It will house about 500 students and 40 teachers.

BUFFALO TWP — The smell of fresh paint and cut wood this week permeated the halls of Freeport Middle School, which will open for the first time Tuesday.

While construction workers on Tuesday were putting finishing touches to the gym floor and auditorium, teachers have started to decorate their classrooms. The middle school, built next to Freeport High School in Buffalo Township, was constructed during the past 14 months for $30 million.

Clint Crowell, an eighth grade social studies teacher, began his teaching career a decade ago at the recently closed junior high school in Freeport. While he will always be nostalgic for his early teaching experiences, he is excited about a fresh start in the new building.

“There's part of this like you're beginning teaching again,” Crowell said. “It couldn't feel more different in terms of being in here,” standing in his brighter, much larger classroom.

The school has about 500 students and about 40 teachers. Don Dell is the principal.

At the former junior high, classrooms were longer and narrower; and natural lighting and electrical outlets were limited. But despite its quirks, the old building had character.

Pete Shell, starting his 21st year in the district as an eighth grade language arts teacher who oversees the student-run television announcements, agrees with Crowell's sentiments.

“It was a neat old building, but it was too old,” Shell said. “It was literally falling down around us.”

Freeport Junior High School was more than 90 years old. That building and the school district's kindergarten center were sold to an Armstrong County developer during the summer who plans to turn those buildings into a medical office, day care and office space.

While the junior high had seventh and eighth graders, the new middle school also will house sixth graders.

Students and their parents this week will see the building for the first time. Sixth graders toured the school Tuesday night, seventh graders will see it tonight and eighth graders will see it Thursday evening.

Shell said he'll miss working in Freeport, with the tight community atmosphere, but he is happy the football games will still be played there this season. He announces the games on Friday nights.

Shell said managing a television studio at the former junior high was an ongoing challenge.

“The studio was very small in the old building, not much bigger than a closet, so it was very difficult,” Shell said.

In the new middle school, the studio space, built next to his classroom, has nearly quadrupled in size. There is no shortage of electrical outlets, plenty of shelf space, and other amenities state-of-the-art technological spaces need.

“We're tickled to have multiple outlets in a room,” he said.

Danielle Kirkwood, a seventh grade reading teacher, happily hung posters and decorations in her new classroom on Tuesday. She hopes that with more space, it will be easier for students to work in groups.

“That was always a little more challenging because of the room,” she said of the junior high space.

The new 115,000-square-foot building has 26 classrooms, three computer labs, full-sized competition gym, a state-of-the-art TV studio and a technology-driven library.

Clint Crowell, an eighth grade social studies teacher, prepares his room in Freeport's new middle school.