Officials, Residents Celebrate Groundbreaking of New Field Elementary School

A number of town and local officials as well as volunteers and individuals involved in the project turned up Tuesday morning to break ground on the new Field School.

"We're here to start the next exciting element in Weston's school program," Project Manager Jeff D'Amico told the crowd gathered behind the current Field School. "We're all here to work together as a team."

The project is budgeted at $31.5 million with the Massachusetts School Building Authority committing to reimburse the town for 34.5 percent of the cost, or about $8.1 million.

School Committee member Ed Heller explained that the design of the new building is "attentive to educational programming and sensitive to the aesthetic and environmental concerns of Weston."

Once the new building is completed, the current building will be demolished and new athletic fields will be added.

"There's been a lot of dreaming about this new Field School," Superintendent Cheryl Maloney said. "We look forward to opening the school and having new facilities to house 21st century learning."

The new building is expected to be ready for students by the start of the 2014-15 school year.