Beaufort County Schools breaks ground on new Washington Elementary School

BEAUFORT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - Beaufort County Schools held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday to celebrate the construction of a brand new Pre-K through 3rd grade Washington Elementary School.

The new 135,000-square-foot elementary school will combine the current Eastern Elementary School with the John Cotton Tayloe Elementary School.

The groundbreaking comes months after the Beaufort County School District received a $42 million needs based grant from the NC Superintendent of Public Instruction, Catherine Truitt along with a $10 million match from Beaufort County Commissioners.

“To see it come to fruition today where we’re breaking ground with our great partners, we’re super excited about it,” Dr. Matthew Cheeseman, the Superintendent of Beaufort County Schools said.

Architects say they will work with teachers and staff from both schools who are providing ideas on what learning spaces and technology should look like for students.

The new building will include innovative and collaborative spaces such as upgraded art rooms, music rooms, and classrooms.

“Our custodians, our maintenance teams they do great jobs at maintaining the order and structure inside of our buildings,” Cheeseman said. “But in reality, those buildings were constructed in the 60s and our kids really deserve something that’s more innovative, a great learning and teaching environment. Our employees deserve something like that as well.”

The school will begin its construction as early as the new year and is expected to be completed by August 2026.