On Friday afternoon, the Cartersville community came together under a clear sky to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Cartersville Primary School. School system employees and local leaders gathered at 200 Carter Grove Boulevard for the occasion.
Cartersville City School Board President Kelley Dial said this project has been more than a decade in the making.
“In 2005, the late Steve Simpson’s development company gifted this land to the Cartersville City Schools for the express purpose of building a school,” Dial said at the ceremony. “Over the next few years, through fluctuations in the local economy and our student population, the vision for this school and the population it would serve have also fluctuated.”
The new CPS will teach students from prekindergarten to third grade instead of the previous kindergarten through second grade population.
Ground plan for the new Cartersville Primary School.
School Board Superintendent Dr. Marc Feuerbach explained that the recent increase in enrollment, coupled with the current building reaching the end of its practical lifespan at almost 50 years old, has made now the right time to move forward on the new school.
Several generations of Canes were present at the ceremony, including Cartersville City Schools alumna Lisa Weldon. Weldon said she was part of the first class to be in the original primary school.
“I know it’s not always easy moving away from something that has been in place for so long, but I am excited to know my grandchildren will get to be part of the new primary school complex that is being built on this property,” Weldon told the crowd. “When construction is complete, I will have four grandchildren walking the halls of the new primary school. […] I know they may not be going to the same building that I went to or my children went to for primary school, but […] the building is going to be an amazing [one] and a great place for our young students to learn.”
Last fall, the school board approved Parris Construction Group of Alpharetta for the project, at a cost of $46,598,776. The ribbon cutting for the new school is anticipated to take place in Aug. 2023.
Cartersville Elementary School students will soon use the current CPS building while the elementary school is renovated. Dial said the school system has not yet decided on the fate of the structure.