The Stanly County Board of Education, along with Endy Elementary students, break ground on the construction of 10 new classrooms. From left, front row, Endy Elementary students are Lexie Griffin, Ellie Owen, Ava Dennis, Morgan Lisenby, Josiah Efird, Cora Barbee, Brooklyn Woods, Sunny Herlocker, Cash Lowder, Zeb Bowers, Raelynn Huneycutt, Olivia Furr, Ellie Wallace, Rhett Barbee, Dakota Pratt, Evan Harwood, Leslie Torres, Harper Graham, Addison Speights, Brecken Griffin; back row: school board member Bill Sorensen, SCS Superintendent Dr. Jarrod Dennis, school board member Dustin Lisk, Endy principal Jodi Autry and school board members Robin Whittaker, Carla Poplin, Glenda Gibson, Dr. Rufus Lefler and Vicky Watson. (Photo by CHARLES CURCIO/staff)

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Members of Stanly County Schools, the Board of Education and others met recently at Endy Elementary School to celebrate the groundbreaking on 10 new classrooms.

The construction contract went to J.M. Cope, who bid $3.576 million for the project, with $400,000 for two possible additional classrooms.

Before the groundbreaking, school board chair Carla Poplin thanked Cope and Pinnacle Architecture, along with county commissioners for approving the project.

The project is expected to start this month and take approximately 300 days, finishing around April 2025 to allow SCS staff time to move furniture and equipment in to be ready for the 2025-26 academic year, according to Chad Webb, vice president of J.M. Cope.

Webb said the new 10 classroom building will be about 10,000 square feet.