Orange Beach, Ala. – (OBA) – Orange Beach City Schools had a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Aug. 4, for a new $6 million addition to Orange Beach Elementary School. Superintendent Randy Wilkes began the ceremony in the elementary school gymnasium.

The new 18,000-square-foot wing will include a “cafetorium” with a stage and a media/library room. Once the new addition is complete, a second phase of the project will include converting the current library to three classrooms and converting the current cafeteria into five classrooms and a breakroom. The project was designed by McKee and Associates Architects, Inc. Bayshore Construction is handling the project.

Superintendent Randy Wilkes said it’s an exciting time and with the number of students expected to continue to grow, other future expansions are on the horizon.

Wilkes said the new library will be state of the art. “The library should be the hub of our school,” he said. “It all starts there with reading and I can’t think of a better way to break some ground than for new facilities like this.”

School Board President Robert Stuart thanked Mayor Tony Kennon and the City Council for its commitment to education in Orange Beach. With all of the elementary school teachers in attendance, he took the opportunity to thank them.

“There are very few people that walk around that affect a life more than a teacher,” Stuart said.

He also thanked his fellow school board members.

“When you do a school system in 90 days, you know there are things that pop up,” he said. “There are things that happen. Things that we expected and things that we didn’t expect. But through it all the board, the men and women who make up the Orange Beach School Board, I cannot say enough about. Thank y’all. Thank you, very much.”

Stuart said as the system continues to grow and the more successful it becomes, more issues will crop up, but he asked for “a little patience” because there is a plan.

“I’ve been trying to tell parents who have been contacting me,” he said. “I said, ‘Look, don’t expect a perfect opening.’ There wasn’t a perfect opening when we were a county school, right? But we’re going to be real close to it. So, if you have any issue, I just ask that you go through the proper channels to get those issues solved, whether it be a student issue, a parent issue, any issue you might have, go through the proper channels and we’re going to do the best that we can to solve that issue. I’m excited. I’m proud to be a Mako.”

Before heading outside to toss some ceremonial dirt, Mayor Kennon thanked the school administrators, staff and teachers because they are the backbone of any capital investments the city and school system make.

“I love the addition and we’re going to rock and roll on whatever additions we need to do because we’re going to be so great we deserve it, y’all deserve it,” Kennon said. “But that stuff, those buildings, mean absolutely nothing, they’re there because of you. You’re the capital that needs to be invested in. We’re going to invest in buildings but you are what matters. And I think every one of us has committed to the human capital being the number one priority, the number one concern for every one of us because to be great, it’s about y’all.”

The new addition is expected to be complete in May 2023 with phase two to follow.

(Shown in the photo, from left, are Councilman Jeff Silvers, Councilman Jerry Johnson, Mayor Tony Kennon, Orange Beach Elementary School Principal Mary Catherine Law, Superintendent Randy Wilkes, and Orange Beach City Board of Education members Shannon Robinson, Tracie Stark (secretary), Robert Stuart (president), Nelson Bauer (vice president), and Randy McKinney.) Find more photos on the City of Orange Beach Facebook page.