Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec / A number of children — future graduates of the new Altoona Area High School — were invited to participate in the ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday, including Evelyn “Andie” Adams, 9, who will be a sixth-grader when the new school opens. At left is Dutch Brennan, president of the school district’s Board of Directors.

Altoona Area School Board President Dutch Brennan put a gold-painted shovel into a pile of soil at the site of the planned new high school B building Wednesday, marking the start of construction and renovation of the A building.

“Today we don’t simply celebrate the construction of a school building or the renovation of another. After all, a school building is just another tool used by teachers to educate our youth. Today we celebrate our resolve, our dedication to the future of this community,” Brennan said.

“We celebrate the idea of revitalization, making ourselves competitive in today’s job market. We celebrate providing an opportunity for our children to achieve their hopes and dreams just as our parents provided for us,” he said.

The groundbreaking was on the artificial turf of an intramural football field on Seventh Avenue. Today, J.C. Orr and Sons construction crews will begin digging up that turf to prepare the foundation for a new building that will open by the fall of 2020.

Simultaneously, renovations to the A building on Sixth Avenue will begin today. Sixth and Seventh avenues will be reduced to one lane each for the next two years to accommodate the project, company President Joe Orr said.

“It’s all PennDOT approved. This is a major start to a major project. In two and a half years, you will have a state of the art facility,” Orr said after the ceremony.

Digging up the field and doing foundation work will take about two months, then steel will be erected over the summer and crews will be working under roof by February, Orr said.

The groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday was the culmination of two years of planning sessions, open houses and public hearings on the project.

The project’s $87.3 million cost drew heavy criticism from board members Sharon Bream, Ed Kreuz, Ron Johnston and Dave Francis, none of whom voted for the project and none of whom were present for the groundbreaking.

Others wielding shovels for the groundbreaking were Superintendent Charles Prijatelj; board members Rick Hoover, Kelly Irwin Adams and Bill Ceglar; former board president John Donley; former board member Dick Lockard; high school Principal Andrew Neely; and Assistant Superintendent Brad Hatch and Orr.

Lockard was a board member during seven building projects including the current high school project.

“This is a great thing for the Altoona Area School District students, for education and the community. We need the school; the B building is 90 years old. Education has changed. The difference is technology. We have to have students in up-to-date facilities,” he said.

The new building replacing the 90-year-old B building will contain spaces specific to science, engineering, technology and math as well as new performing arts venues, Prijatelj noted in a brief speech.

“New science spaces and new performing arts venues will give a chance for our children to develop their talents and expertise and to demonstrate their skills to both their peers and to the world,” he said.

“The old B building has served our students well for the past 90 years, and the new building will serve our children for the next 90 years,” he said. “The children of Altoona will make you proud,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Russ O’Reilly is at 946-7435.