The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
What started as an idea more than seven years ago came to fruition Dec. 2, with the groundbreaking for the Claremont Road Elementary School.
School district and township officials, district principals and others gathered on a somewhat muddy field to witness the event, set to the backdrop of ground-clearing equipment moving in the distance.
The school was the keystone of the $85 million referendum passed by township voters in December 2014. The school is expected to open in September 2018.
Potosnak said the school will cost about $35 million.
Along with the school, the referendum will pay for modifications and renovations to the district’s other elementary schools.
When the dust settles, the district will have two middle schools and a realigned elementary school system.
“This is the day we’ve all been waiting for,” schools Superintendent John Ravally told the crowd. “Our work has just started and will continue with building a solid plan for transition that will restructure and rezone our schools. We have lots of very positive things happening, and we’re very excited about all those plans.”
“We hope to be one of the strongest school districts around,” Ravally said.
Board of Education president Ed Potosnak said the school construction “is the product of amazing work. It takes a ton of people to build a building.”
The school – the design of which is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certified by the United States Green Building Council – “will be a model for environmentalism, for education and will put our students on the cutting edge,” Potosnak said.
“I just couldn’t be more happy,” he said.
Following the comments, a number of district and township officials donned hard hats and grabbed ceremonial shovels, then tossed some soil “for good luck,” Potosnak said.
2016 Claremont Road Elementary School Groundbreaking
