BERLIN, Md.- Ground was broken on the new Showell Elementary School in Worcester County on Tuesday morning.
"It's actually a dream come true," said Principal Diane Shorts.
The new school will be almost twice as big as the existing building, housing 42 classrooms instead of 26.
"We have nine trailers out the back of our building. Our entire second grade is in seven trailers," said Shorts.
Shorts said she will be happy to see the trailer classrooms gone and all students back under one roof.
The new school will also allow the fourth grade to move back to Showell. Those students are currently at Berlin Intermediate School.
School leaders said the new Showell Elementary will have state of the art technology for instruction, as well as security and communication alarm systems.
Superintendent Lou Taylor said safety was a major priority in the planning process.
"We want our communities to feel safe. Our families to feel safe," Taylor said.
Safety features in the new school include a vestibule to funnel visitors into the administration office. That means they have to check in before having access to any part of the school.
The new school will be built behind the existing building.
The entire project has a price tag of $47.6 million. The plan is to open the new Showell Elementary School in September of 2020 in Berlin.
