Construction begins on new elementary school in Centre County. ‘History and tradition’
Centre County is seeing construction begin on another new elementary school as Keystone Central School District held a groundbreaking ceremony last week for its new Liberty Curtin Elementary.
The elementary school will be located on the same property as the existing building in Blanchard. The existing facilities were built in 1966 and have undergone few renovations since, superintendent Jacquelyn Martin said.
“The existing roof is over 30 years old ... the shingles are literally falling off in every storm,” Martin said. “We didn’t put any money into it because we knew we were possibly tearing it down and renovating it.”
Plans for a renovation or rebuild started in 2020 when the existing building was given an end of life estimate of 2025. After discussions with stakeholders and architects, the administration decided to proceed with a new building on the same site.
Building on the same site allows students to stay in the existing building while construction is completed, as opposed to busing them to another school in the school district, which covers parts of Clinton, Centre and Potter counties.
“Even though it’s only 20 minutes to our next elementary school, obviously there are kids who are already on a bus over an hour to get to Liberty Curtin Elementary School because it’s such a remote location,” Martin said. “Adding another 20 minutes of a bus ride for them, it’s just unacceptable for students K-4.”
The new 49,500-square-foot building will have K-4 classrooms, art and music rooms, a media/STEM center and more. Construction costs for the new building total $20,487,600, about $420 per square foot. Martin said the administration’s priorities for the building are ADA accessibility, safety and future-focused learning spaces.
“We’re not overbuilding, we’re not building a Taj Mahal, if you will,” Martin said. “But there’s a lot of history and tradition on that location and the folks in our community are really grateful that we’re building on the same site.”
Centre County commissioners Amber Concepcion and Mark Higgins were at last week’s groundbreaking ceremony. Concepcion, a former president of the State College Area school board, helped support the Keystone Central administration during the design and planning process, Martin said.
Construction is expected to be completed in August 2025 with students being able to move into the new building for the fall semester. The project also marks one of Martin’s last accomplishments as superintendent as she is retiring after Jan. 31. The district’s new superintendent, Francis Redmon, will start Feb. 1.
