Ground broken for new school in Crestview
The sun glinted off shovels Tuesday as more than 15 Southside Elementary School students - three of them to some shovels - turned the first batches of earth for the city's fifth elementary school. The students, some of whom will still be Southside Tigers when their new school opens, relished their task.
"Kids like to make mud," said student Erin Saueressig. "We like to dig."
The Okaloosa County School Board searched for more than three years for the right location to build Crestview's new school. Officials believe the site off Okaloosa Lane near Redstone Avenue fits the bill.
"We see Crestview booming at the seams," said School Board member Cathy Thigpen, who represents the north county. "It's been a three-year process, but it feels like it's been a lot longer.
"This is a miracle," she said. "It's a dream come true. Once they start the bulldozers going, I'll be able to pinch myself and know it's real."
Southside Principal Donna Holloway will be the new school's principal. Going from Southside's tight location on Ferdon Boulevard between several side streets to the new site "is a dream," she said.
"Just think of the opportunities we'll have with all this space," she said, gesturing to the site's open field with a stately live oak spreading its shade in the center.
When it opens, the $29 million school's 56 classrooms will accommodate about 800 students.
The existing building is expected to be used for school district offices.
After the elementar y school's projected opening in August 2009, work is expected to begin on a neighboring middle school just to the west.
While guests at the groundbreaking stepped carefully around prickly pears and ant nests, the site east of town will soon be bustling with development.
"We're counting on being ahead of the growth" by opening the new schools where the city's expansion is considered to be most likely, said Deputy Superintendent of Schools Rodney Nobles.
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