GRAVETTE -- Groundbreaking was held at 10 a.m. Friday morning, March 15, for the new Gravette High School gymnasium and other building projects. A good crowd attended the event at the gymnasium site despite brisk winds which toppled the podium shortly after the ceremony ended.
Richard Page, superintendent of Gravette Schools, welcomed the crowd of people and thanked them for coming out on such a chilly day. He thanked the school board members, members of the facilities committee, architects and construction company representatives, members of the campaign committee who promoted the building projects and especially all the voters who approved the measure in the school millage election.
Page said "we have warm hearts" even though the weather is cold because excitement is high for the building improvements. "It's a good day to be a Lion," he said. "It's a good day to be breaking ground for these progressive improvements."
Tracy Moorman, president of the Gravette school board, also addressed the crowd. He said he was one of the first Gravette High School class members to use the current gymnasium when it was built 27 years ago and he was happy to be a part of plans for the new one. He praised the quality of Gravette schools and noted that Gravette students represent the district well at events all across the state. He said, "Administrators at Gravette schools are great and that's all you can say."
Following Moorman's brief remarks, he and other school board members, Superintendent Page and maintenance department supervisor Richard Carver donned hard hats and took up gold shovels to turn the first shovelfuls of dirt for the gym construction project.
School board members Tracy Moorman, Dr. Ty Russell, Heather Finley, Hope Duke, Jodi Moore and Robyn Lovell and former school board member John Edwards attended the ceremony. Also in attendance were Clay McGill and Michael Spaeth, principal architects with BiLD Architects; Robert Adams, construction manager for Crossland Construction Company; and Rafeal Oedone, job superintendent.
Community on 03/20/2019