BELLEFONTE — The Bellefonte Area School District celebrated the kickoff of construction on its new $55.3 million elementary school on Friday, June 21, during a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the new school. The new building will replace Bellefonte Elementary School.
The new kindergarten through fifth grade building will be 98,000 square feet and will be able to house up to 750 students. According to a press release from BASD, the new school will include a flexible indoor and outdoor space with a courtyard, additional classrooms and dedicated spaces for the entire student body, emotional support rooms, life skills rooms, a media center, a STEM lab, a musical area with instrument storage, a multipurpose room with a stage and an enhanced security system with cameras located throughout the building.
Despite the June date of the groundbreaking ceremony, construction on BASD’s new elementary school project began at the end of May and is expected to be completed by the spring of 2026.
The district had a bid day for the project on Tuesday, May 7, with contracts awarded for construction on Wednesday, May 18.
“The project bid day resulted in a cost of $47.8 million for the construction, including alternates, which came under the Design Development Estimate of $48.6 million. The total project budget, including all soft costs, will total $55.3 million,” BASD said in a press release.
The original Bellefonte Elementary School was built in 1942, and the new school will be the first new elementary building in the district since 1961. BASD has been in the planning process for a new elementary school for nearly a decade, citing outdated infrastructure and operational difficulties in the original school.
“Through extensive studies, due diligence and leadership of administrators and the board of directors, the district elected to move forward with this long-awaited and much-needed project,” BASD noted in a press release. “The new school will replace Bellefonte Elementary, which required repairs and substantial upkeep to remain functional for students and staff.”
Members of the community, students, school officials and project partners attended the groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, June 21, to celebrate the milestone for the district.
