Bozeman High breaks ground on exciting expansion for students

Yahoo

06-05-2025

BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – Since before Hurricane Michael, Deane Bozeman High School has been planning to expand its classrooms to accommodate the growing number of students.
'This area is experiencing explosive growth. So, planning for the building was already in place. But just through all the things that happened from the devastation to the hurricane, where we are now, it's taken quite a bit of time. So a lot of preparation went into it. But we're excited to get it started,' Deane Bozeman Principal Ivan Beach said.
This $14.5 million project is being funded by a FEMA mitigation grant.
'What we're doing today is we're doing the groundbreaking for a 23-classroom building facility. I'm telling you, this is a great way to be meeting the needs of our community. I'm so proud of our board that had the vision and the commitment to get to this point where we're actually getting after meeting the needs of this community and forecasting future requirements for this part of Bay County,' Bay District School's Superintendent Mark McQueen said.
In 2000, Bozeman High School had just 700 students. Today, that number has grown to over 1,700, and continues to rise.
Deane Bozeman Assistant Principal, Kim Timmins has seen this project full circle for the last 25 years.
'It's really cool to see that at the time we had like half of our classrooms were empty when we started, and now you're exploding at the seams. As far as our capacity, we have had to bring in portable buildings that were supposed to be temporary, like Gabby said; however, they've become pretty permanent. So we're super excited,' Timmins said.
The addition of 23 new classrooms will help create a more effective and comfortable learning environment for the high school students.
Students are enthusiastic about the future of their school and the opportunities the new space will bring.
'I'm excited to see it because I know they've been talking about it a long time. And so I know it's going to benefit a lot of students. And it might not necessarily benefit me, I don't know yet, but my brother and sister go here and they're younger than me, so I know they'll get to enjoy it,' Senior SGA President Gabby Hernandez said.
The anticipated completion for this expansion is within the next 18 months.
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