Brookland, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – The newest building in the Brookland Public Schools (BPS) district is now open and ready for the first day of classes.

School leaders celebrated the ribbon-cutting of the Brookland Intermediate School on Thursday, a building for the district’s third and fourth grade students. Around 480 students are set to attend.

It comes equipped with a gym that doubles as a storm shelter, a cafeteria, classrooms, a library, and more. A playground with turf is installed next to the building, allowing students to get out and play, even after rainy weather.

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“It’s an incredible feeling,” Brookland Intermediate School Principal Jennifer Jaynes said of the building’s opening. “We are gonna open our school doors on the first day of school, so we’re very excited for that.”

The first day of school for BPS is Monday, Aug. 17.

The 83,000-square-foot, two-story building comes as a response to an increased need for more space for students, as enrollment numbers have been on the rise since 2022. Jaynes said the building had about five classrooms that could be converted into regular rooms, if the district’s student body continued to grow and the need arose.

Third grade students will occupy the first floor, while fourth grade will be on the second. It will have approximately 25 classroom teachers will staff the building, as well as cafeteria and other classified staff.

School officials broke ground on the building in March 2025. The project cost $30 million and is being paid for through second lien bonds.

BPS superintendent George Kennedy told JRN that the school was in the final stages of preparing its storm shelter to be used by the City of Brookland after school hours.

He said these steps included making sure the rest of the building could be locked off while the public could enter from the outside, as well as ensuring an officer could have the shelter unlocked and ready. He said the school planned to have these steps finished “very quickly.”

“I can’t wait for Monday to see how excited the kids will be when they come in to see this beautiful school,” Kennedy said during the ceremony. “More importantly, the learning that is going to take place here, I think, will just be an incredible opportunity for everyone.”

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