Officials in Cumberland, Rhode Island, have broken ground on a new B.F. Norton Elementary School, the first new school construction in town in 55 years.
The Valley Breeze reports that Cumberland School Superintendent Phil Thornton Phil Thornton called the groundbreaking a "culminating effort of what has been a multiyear construction effort in Cumberland."
Thornton says Cumberland has not built a new school since 1970, when the North Cumberland Middle School opened.
The Cumberland School Department says the new Norton will have space for 576 students from kindergarten through fifth grade. The three-and-a-half-story facility will have 64,500 square feet of space.
Zone A will house a gym, music classroom, cafeteria, kitchen and other utility spaces. The Zone B wing will house classroom areas.
"The construction at B.F. Norton will allow the district to get more space that we need to enroll more students," Thornton said.
The new school building will offer bright, collaborative spaces for art, STEAM, new classrooms with natural light, and a media center, for student ideas to come alive, said Angelica Infante-Greene, state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The architect is Ai3 Architects, and the construction manager is Consigli.
