The Moore County school system has broken ground on its newest school.

A ceremony marking the beginning of construction at West Pine Elementary School took place June 4 with local government officials, school personnel, parents and other community members in attendance. It will serve the Pinecrest High School attendance district.

The $8.2 million school will include 66,690 square feet and will initially accommodate 500 students in grades K-5, though it is being constructed with a core capacity of 650 students to allow for future growth. The school will be located on a 25-acre tract of land adjacent to the West Pine Middle School property.

Clustering the two schools will allow them to share utilities and staff. Construction is expected to be complete by July 2010.

The school is scheduled to open its doors for students in the fall of 2010.

The student body will be drawn from both West End Elementary and Pinehurst Elementary and is designed to relieve overcrowding. Both of these schools presently have student populations well beyond their capacity. They've been using mobile classrooms as a result.

Also present were representatives of the new school's architectural firm LS3P Associates of Raleigh and representatives of the contracting firm, Edison-Foard Inc., of Charlotte.

The West Pine Middle School seventh-grade band played the national anthem. West End Elementary third-grade student Molly Niewald led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance, and Pinehurst Elementary third-grader Chazz Offord provided the inspiration.

Following remarks by Superintendent Susan Purser, school board Chairwoman Kathy Farren and county commissioner Larry Caddell made remarks about the new school. They also discussed the excellent relationship between the two boards in working together to meet the needs of the school system.

Also in attendance were county commissioner Tim Lea and school board members Laura Lang, Pam Thompson, Dale Frye and Charles Lambert.

The new West Pine Elementary School is one of two new schools outlined in Phase I of the school district's Facilities Master Plan. The approval of the $54 million bond referendum in the fall of 2007 provides funding for this school, as well as the new Crain's Creek Middle School near Vass which began construction last October.

Like West Pine Elementary, Crain's Creek Middle is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010. In addition to these two schools, the bond referendum made additions and/or improvements to 12 existing schools possible.

Contact John Krahnert III at 693-2473 or by e-mail at jkrahnert@thepilot.com.