Well-behaved children and their rosy cheeks gladly braved the cold during the official groundbreaking ceremony of Masons Cove Elementary school on Bradshaw Road on Friday afternoon, January 29. In addition to the entire school and their staff and teachers, the school board, superintendent Lorraine Lange, the building’s contractors, and even parents were present.

The new school, designed by RRMM architects, will be LEED certified, said Catawba school board representative David Wymer. G&H Contracting will build the school, and Carroll Construction will do the masonry work including several different patterns and types of brick, even a little bit of stone to make the environmentally friendly school attractive, too. It is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

Behind the shovels, the old school sat, still heated by a coal furnace. Classes can be held there until the new building is ready to move into, and then it will be demolished and replaced by a new baseball field. The Moose Lodge and Whispering Pines are generously allowing the school to hold its rec league sports practices on their fields while the transition is taking place.

“It’s an exciting time to be a leader,” said principal Ashley McCallum. She took her post at the beginning of this school year and plans on staying there at least until the construction is complete, if not longer.

“The whole community has embraced this,” she said. “We’re really excited. These kids will be the first kids in a brand new building. They deserve it. The community deserves it.”