Businesses, parents, students, teachers and community organizations arrived with a train of vehicles and arms full of boxes and worked throughout the day, getting the bulk of the work done before lunchtime Monday.

The move was bittersweet for some teachers who had spent nearly 30 years in their former buildings, but the blast of cool air conditioning, the new maps and 50-inch plasma screens at the new school seemed to overpower any sadness.

The moving day was pushed back several times in recent months, frustrating elected officials, school administrators and students. But several teachers said they were relieved to have more time to get organized before summer school classes begin on June 22.

An official opening ceremony is planned for late August.

Community members lend a hand in the big school move last Monday. Wayson Christopher, Eddie Dawson and Stockton Bates help move desks from the old high school to the new building.

The move to the new school last week marked the culmination of a six-year process.

Early in 2003, the board of supervisors contracted an architectural firm to study the needs of the middle and high schools, both of which were nearing the end of their lifespans.

The 200-page report that came out of that study the following year outlined the problems the schools faced and then addressed possible cures.

Among the issues sited at the middle school were lack of air conditioning, few operational windows, iron plumbing that was rotting, spotted brown ceiling tiles, and pools of standing water on the roof.

“The ceiling leaks and the floor is sinking, but the concrete walls and foundation are in great shape,” said Superintendent Clint Stables, running his hand along a section of masonry at the middle school during a tour with the board of supervisors in August 2004.

The board of supervisors and school board began a six-month-long debate about the pros and cons of renovating the old middle school versus building a new one.

When the study concluded in 2004, it was estimated that renovating the middle school would cost some $9 million while building new would cost some $11 million.

In February 2005, the two boards began looking at potential sites for a new school and considering financing options. It was the first time they would discuss the concept of a “campus” approach that would ultimately include all three of Northumberland county’s schools in addition to the school board offices and adult education offices.

Lilian Lumber trucks help move dozens of boxes of books from the old middle school library to the new combined library.

The middle school was still the primary focus of the discussions since the high school had undergone a major renovation in the 1960s.

In March 2005, the boards ordered a second study to identify the educational program needs at the middle and high schools. This was an essential step in finalizing any architectural blueprints in the future.

In September 2005, with the roof leaking and the air conditioning failing at the high school, the board of supervisors denied a $942,000 renovation project there.

“I can’t put myself in a position to obligate the county to do this without having somebody to tell me this is the best way to go,” said supervisor Joe Self. “I need to give it more thought before I take any action.”

Two months later, the board issued a request for proposals to improve or replace both schools through a new school construction program called the Virginia Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (PPEA) that places the financial burden of architectural planning and design on the competitive bidders.

The ad that ran, to the surprise of the community, called for plans to upgrade or replace facilities for both the middle and high schools, possibly in two separate phases.

In December of that same year, superintendent of schools Clint Stables wrote a letter to the local newspapers, pleading the schools’ case:

“As a community we have an obligation to provide our children with adequate school facilities,” he wrote. “These should be able to support new technologies that students must master to compete in either the working world or post-secondary education. Our schools should demonstrate the value that our community places on education.”

In March 2006, the boards announced they had selected three companies to continue to the second phase of a competitive bidding process. All three companies were recommending a single new building to house grades 6 to 12.

In early June 2006, the board began finalizing negotiations with First Choice Public-Private Partners and later that month, in a joint meeting, the boards unanimously approved building a combined middle and high school. Moseley Architects, the firm that designed Northumberland’s elementary school, and English Construction Company, a well-known Virginia-based builder, were joined in the partnership.

The 160,000-square-foot facility had a guaranteed maximum price tag of $37,484,830, which the board of supervisors voted to pay for with a 31 percent increase in the county’s property tax rate.

In September 2006, as architectural plans for the new school were still being finalized, the board broke ground at the site of the new school.

The new building would have a fitness room complete with state-of-the-art workout machines, 50-inch flat screen TVs in every classroom and a 500-seat auditorium.

An artist’s rendering of the front elevation of Northumberland’s new school showed the building divided into three sections with two-story school houses on either side. The central areas between the schools would be shared.

The stairwells were designed to look like lighthouses, and the building, with its overhanging porches and pilings, was meant to reflect the architecture found throughout the county.

Plans weren’t finalized until February of that year although several supervisors were still unhappy with the overall look of the building’s facade. The plans were approved with two members voting in favor and two abstaining, while one was absent.

The project was slow coming out of the ground with delays in architectural planning, site grading and masonry work. But in October 2007, one year after breaking ground, great concrete walls seemed to be rising almost overnight from the dust.

The opening for both schools was scheduled for January 2009. In October 2008, however, construction crews were still at work inside Northumberland’s new school with a considerable way to go until completion.

The move-in date was pushed back several times this year until it was finally agreed to wait until the end of the school year.

The county issued a certificate of occupancy to the school May 27 and the first few programs were held there last week.

“It’s a big relief, but at the same time we’ve still got a lot of things we’re figuring out. It’s like moving into a new house. There’s a lot of training on new systems to get everyone up to speed on how the technology works in that building and to make sure we are taking advantage of everything it has to offer,” said Stables, with the move almost complete.

“This building has everything that was on our original wish list, but we ended up with something much more exciting than we ever could have imagined when we first started dreaming in 2003,” he said.