Officials with the Baldwin County School System and Board of Education joined school and construction officials at Elsanor School and Central Baldwin Middle School Oct. 28 for classroom addition groundbreaking ceremonies at the two schools.

“We are excited about the growth of our school systems and want the people of Baldwin County to know that we are being responsible with the funds that have been entrusted to us,” said Baldwin County School Superintendent Eddie Tyler.

Plans at Elsanor School call for a 12,500 square-foot facility which would add 10 classrooms, eliminating eight portable classrooms on the school campus, costing an estimated $1.8 million.

Central Baldwin Middle School is adding 14 classrooms in its 16,800 square-foot facility at an estimated cost of $2.4 million.

Elsanor and CBMS are part Phase 1 of the school system’s Pay as You Go Project, which includes a total of five classroom additions at an estimated cost of $5 million.

Prior groundbreaking ceremonies were held at Elberta Elementary and at Fairhope High School. Tyler announced that a groundbreaking ceremony for Perdido School will be held this week.

The additions are being paid for with available funds, made possible through refinancing and budget cuts. Tyler commended the work of Director and CFO John Wilson and the School System’s Business and Finance Department for their work in funding the additions.

For Elsanor School, this is the first new classroom addition since the school was rebuilt after burning to the ground in 1985. A new school cafeteria was built on the school property within the last few years.

In addition to allowing the school to eliminate its portable buildings, the new addition means the school will no longer have to use the original school house building, constructed in 1913, for classroom space.

Original plans called for the building to be removed from the campus, but it was announced earlier this year that the addition would be placed at another location on campus, thus allowing the building to remain.

The new addition would house Pre-K through second grade students, said Elsanor School Principal Susan Runnels. The school currently houses 365 students in grades Pre-K through sixth.

“This is huge for our school,” said Runnels. “We have grown by more than 100 students over the last 10 years and we are continuing to grow. This new addition not only solves our overcrowding issues, but also allows for future growth.”

Officials with the town of Loxley and Central Baldwin Chamber of Commerce joined in the groundbreaking ceremonies at Central Baldwin Middle School.

The 14-classroom addition will be the first in the history of the school, which opened its doors in 1994, consolidating middle schools in Robertsdale, Loxley, Silverhill and the surrounding areas. The new addition will allow the school to eliminate seven portable classrooms, said Principal Phillip Fountain.

When asked what the new addition means for the school, Fountain said, “This means everything for us, allowing our students to learn in a nice new facility and get out of the portable classrooms,” Fountain said.

The area where the addition is being built will also allow room for expansion when needed, officials said.