Ground-Breaking and Ribbon Cutting Ceremonies
Waynesville Schools ushered in a new page of its history on Tuesday holding two ceremonies to celebrate the completion of Phase I and the beginning of Phase II of its three (3) phased master facilities plan. The morning ceremony focused on our elementary students as they recognized the event with “Construction Day.” There were lots of construction hats, nail aprons and shovels worn and held by our students. Superintendent Pat Dubbs spoke and introduced all guests. Ms. Leslie Schleman and the Waynesville High School Band played the Star Spangled Banner and our school fight song.
A special commemorative American flag was presented by Congressman Steve Chabot’s office. County and local dignitaries included our School Board Members: President Brad Conner, Vice President Dave Barton, Sue Blair, Dr. Jim Byers and Darren Amburgy. We welcomed Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell, Police Chief Gary Copeland and Fire Chief Paul Scherer. Wayne Township Administrator Gus Edwards, Waynesville Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kelly Miller and Office and Event Coordinator Suz Beckett and Alumni Association Representative Greg Smallwood and Warren Sheehan were all in attendance. Our Educational Partner Tom Isaacs and the Warren County Educational Service Center showed their support for our new facilities. We thank our design and construction teams from OFCC, LWC Inc., Megen Construction, Seyferth Construction and Monarch Construction for making our facilities vision become a reality.
During the evening ceremony, we cut ribbon, turned dirt, and signed construction helmets to symbolize our school community’s future. Special guests for the evening event included Mayor David Stubbs, Council Members Chris Colvin and Joette Dedden, Planning Commission Chair Chad Bridgman and Planning Commission Members Andrea Downing and Travis Hatmaker, as well as Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims. Mr. Bridgman also represented Sinclair Community College as the Director of Work-Based Learning. As we thanked the many people who attended our visioning meetings, design meetings and participated in field trips to other school districts to see modern school designs, we are excited to begin the physical transformation of our school district. Construction will be ongoing through this 2019/20 school year as well as 2020/21. Students and staff will occupy the new building at the start of the 2021/22 school year. The new elementary is designed to provide our students and staff with a 21st century education allowing them to excel academically in a caring atmosphere with the best possible resources. Also, our architects, LWC Inc., set up visuals for the public to view and answer any questions.
The weather could not have been more perfect. The new bus facility was open to the public with light refreshments. We would once again like to thank our special guests and everyone in attendance for taking the time to make the ribbon cutting and ground breaking ceremony a success. We are extremely grateful for the support from our community and supporters as we begin to build our new Waynesville Elementary School!
