Smith Valley School is breaking ground on Wednesday for a large, new modular building that will change the look of the campus.

The public is invited to help cheer on the shovel-wielders at 1 p.m. as they turn over the first dirt at the lower campus.

Principal Mike Welling said the school's trustees have invited architect Ken Williams, project manager Roy Beekman of Meredith Construction Co., teachers, students and others involved in helping pass the $1.35 million bond issue and developing the project.

After the ground breaking, everyone is welcome to stay for a reception.

Wednesday will mark the formal start of work on the new 192-by 64-foot modular building that will be erected just behind the primary school on the lower campus.

But excavation for the tanks, lines and drain fields for the new septic system began March 8. Welling said the school plans to make the septic switch-over during spring break.

He expects excavation for the building's foundation to start around the first of April, with an early-June delivery date planned for the building itself.

The new modular building will come in 14 sections and be set in place by crane, Welling said.

In addition to seven new classrooms for grades K-5, it will provide a library, schoolwide computer lab, Title I and Special Education space, and administrative offices.

Sixth- through eighth-graders will be moved into the existing school house, coming from the upper campus buildings. Those will be mothballed for future needs. In the meantime they will accommodate storage and supplies that don't need as much weather protection, Welling said.

All grades will use the gym, where fifth-graders temporarily are holding class after they vacated the mobile classroom behind the original school.

Welling said Patty Seaman Homes bought the mobile building for $4,075 and is in the process of moving it off the property.

Cost of the building project is expected to come in around $1,313,990. That leaves room in the budget for remodeling the old building, Welling said, by upgrading bathrooms, recarpeting, painting and possibly converting one room to a science lab for the upper grades.

Voters approved the project last June 9.

The new building will be open for class this fall.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com