BOURNE – Despite sup-freezing temperatures, students, parents, teachers, school administrators, community members, and public officials came out for a groundbreaking ceremony for the new James F Peebles Elementary School in Bourne.
Much of Saturday’s event was held inside the existing Peebles Elementary Gymnasium.
Built in 1953, proponents of the project have long contended that it was time for a new facility, a plan which received overwhelming support from residents at town meeting.
Attendees heard from members of the Building Committee as well as Superintendent Steven Lamarche and Congressman Bill Keating.
Each speaker heaping praise on project volunteers and members of the community for helping the project move forward.
“I want to just say what a terrific job the committee did dealing with this,” said Keating.
“I was at the town meeting, voting to support this at town meeting, as someone who lives here and I got to see first-hand all of the work that you put in.”
When it came time for the big moment, nine elementary school students donned hard-hats and grabbed purple bladed shovels and stepped outside to take the first ceremonial chunk out of the earth – not an easy task given recent temperatures.
Now that the kids got things started, construction from here on out will be handled by Brait Builders who submitted the winning construction bid at just under $28 million.
All told, the project is slated to come in at nearly $40 million, of which the Massachusetts School Building Authority is covering roughly $15 million.
Construction on the new school is slated to be completed by September of 2019, at which point the current Peebles School will be demolished.
“This is Bourne 2020 happening right now in this community,” said Lamarche, “This is a change that will impact this community at great length for a very, very long time.”
In the meantime, school officials are anxious to keep families informed and answer and questions that may arise during construction. The district will be hosting an informational session about the procedural changes and the project timeline on Wednesday at 5:30.
By DAVID BEATTY, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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