JACKSONVILLE, Ark. — The City of Jacksonville has continued recovering and rebuilding from the March tornado— and on Thursday, the city took a moment to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new elementary campus.
“Once this building is complete, we would have completed a series of new buildings for all of our scholars,” said Superintendent of the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District, Dr. Jeremy Owoh.
Dr. Owoh said that new school buildings were a goal the district had since they got the green light to separate from the Pulaski County Special School District 7 years ago.
“We started in the original buildings, such as the one located behind me, and with the idea of when we became the new school, a new school district, we would set out to build all brand-new schools,” said Dr. Owoh.
Dr. Owoh also explained that this project will be completed sooner than expected.
“We were once projected to complete the project by 2026 and so we're beating that deadline by completing this project by 2024,” said Dr. Owoh.
Jeff Elmore, the Mayor of Jacksonville said this is a testament to the community.
“The doors that are going to open for our students, our scholars here, it's just immeasurable, and what it's going to do for us as a community in the future,” Elmore added.
A community that continues to recover and rebuild.
“We're doing great, the city is rebounding,” said Elmore. “We're showing our resiliency and couldn't be more proud of our people.”
Dr. Owoh explained how the groundbreaking celebration was something they needed.
“We definitely had a lot of families who were impacted by the storm and to be able to celebrate a new beginning here, such as this new school provides that the ray of light and just some happy times for our community,” said Dr. Owoh.
It also provided a glimpse of what’s in store for the city.
“It's just once again, continuing the improvement of Jacksonville, and this transformation in this new Jacksonville we're becoming,” said Elmore.