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Warsaw School Board approved a timeline Tuesday for the Warsaw Middle School (WMS) project that will merge the Lakeview and Edgewood middle schools at Lakeview.
Warsaw Community Schools (WCS) Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert provided the board with a timeline of when WCS is looking to do different aspects of the project. Lakeview opened in 1962 and has had over 40 million student class hours. Lakeview also holds Gateway and WACC programs.
Options considered included building a new middle school, renovating Lakeview and combining the two middle schools at either location. Over the last two or three years, Hoffert said WCS come up with the solution of combining the two middle schools at Lakeview, which will become WMS.
“And I would say we learned a lot over the last couple years of what this could like as we dream about Warsaw Middle School and the offerings it could provide our students,” he said.
Hoffert also brought up declining birth rates affecting student enrollment, as well as Lakeview being part of the Winona Avenue corridor and the school being a linkage between the Warsaw and Winona Lake communities.
He said the WMS project is not going to be a short-term project, expecting the project to go all the way to summer 2030.
Part of the project was already started. In September 2025, the board approved finalizing a guaranteed energy savings contract for Lakeview with Performance Services Inc. Phase one of the work was done in summer 2026.
Tuesday, Hoffert said taking that work into account, “we’re looking at a good five-year project to be able to get to completion.”
Chief Financial Officer Stephen Boyer said since the work for phase one of the energy savings work has been completed and the school year started, Lakeview has already seen its energy costs go down. He said as WCS goes into the winter months, they will see the energy costs continue to go down, noting Lakeview has until recently been the most expensive school because it’s WCS’ oldest school.
Hoffert said work is far from done.
In spring 2027, work with a criterion designer will begin. Hoffert described it as a competitive “Shark Tank” type of idea where three competitor designers are in the same room at the same time. The designers are architects that would take all of WCS’ plans and create a criteria for the architect building team. Then the teams compete against each other on design, price and scope.
Work for phase two for the energy savings contract will be done in summer 2027. During this phase, roofing above the 1980 addition, HVAC and bathroom work will be done, he said. Also, the first wave of classrooms will be renovated and a third chiller will be put in.
Director of Facilities Jim LeMasters said work will probably begin around spring break. Lakeview Principal Todd Braddock has some plans to where some students can be moved from different sections so work can start. LeMasters said it is easier to disrupt things towards the end of the school year than the beginning of the year.
In spring and summer 2027, the final selection of design builder will be decided.
In fall 2027, the design build will start. That phase of the project is expected to take at least three summers, Hoffert said. Work included will be new classroom additions, fine arts spaces, a new cafeteria and an auxiliary gym.
Internal and external traffic flow will be worked on at Lakeview. Hoffert said one of the biggest questions they get is about what the parent pick-up line will look like. He said there is a lot of space on Geneva Road and they are looking at ways of how to stack cars to keep them off Smith Street.
WCS is looking to have the project completed in summer 2030.
Hoffert recommended the school board approve the timeline as set during his presentation to the board, which they did.
