The 125 or so students who attend a West Ada alternative school will have a new home next fall.

Pathways Middle School will move into a new $6.3 million building early in the 2017-18 school year, Bill Roberts of the Idaho Statesman reported this week.

A groundbreaking was held on Nov. 15.

The school has been open for nearly a decade housed in portable buildings. The portables are cramped and drafty, Roberts reported, and some students have been teased about attending a “trailer park school.”

“When you are in a school made up of portables, you are forced to use other peoples’ facilities to eat, hold assemblies, or have a student versus staff basketball game. It’s kind of like having family dinners at someone else’s house,” Principal Eric Eschen said during the groundbreaking.

Located in Meridian, Pathways serves seventh- and eighth-graders.