Gordon Barbour Elementary School breaks ground on new classrooms

ORANGE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - Gordon Barbour Elementary School is breaking ground on a project that is nearly 15 years in the making.

This new addition will bring all kindergarten though 5th grade students together under one roof.

“It’s just a long time coming, and we are are glad to be starting,” Orange County Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Bill Berry said Monday, May 23.

The project costs around $6.3 million and will bring GBES up to par with the rest of the county.

“We’re excited. Teachers are very excited, they’re looking forward to having some state-of-the-art facilities,” Principal Nick Sodano said.

“It’s going to be a wonderful new environment for our students and staff and community,” Berry said.

The Head Start program will be moving out on an old house and into the kindergarten building.

“There will be no disruption to the start of next school year. Our students will be able to learn while the construction is ongoing. Most of the loud and heavy lifting stuff will be done during the summer and during off times,” the principal said.

The school hasn’t seen a renovation like this in a long time.

“I think it’ll be since the 70s that we’ve actually had brick-and-mortar construction,” Sodano said. “We’re thankful for the community support and the county putting forward what’s necessary in order to fund it, and the students will be very thankful once they get a chance to come into the building and learn in the new space.”

GBES hopes the construction will be done by next summer.

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