After some four years in the making...Hamilton County officially breaks ground on the new Ooltewah Elementary School.
Work has been underway for six months now at the site 3 miles past Ooltewah High.
School leaders held the ceremony to celebrate the $21.5 million project this afternoon.
The new school will be the largest in the county...holding 11 hundred students.
It will help with overcrowding in the fastest growing part of Hamilton County.
Tom Arnold, Ooltewah Elementary Principal, "It is much needed. We have 510 kids at our current school and six portables portable classrooms including our library that's all in portables and we are just busting at the seems and enrolling new students everyday basically."
Rick Smith, Superintendent Hamilton Co. Schools, "The studies we looked at is when you see this much growth you start your growth in elementary and so that's why were having to be pretty aggressive about our elementary building program right now."
Starting in August, the new school will house students from the old Ooltewah Elementary, Birchwood and a good portion of students now zoned to Snow Hill Elementary.
