Ground was officially broken on the new James Madison STEAM Academy PreK-8 on Tuesday, marking the beginning of construction of a building that will replace Madison Elementary School.

This is the third new school to be constructed with dollars from the 2019 Bond Issue, approved by voters in Greeley and Evans. The new school will be built west of the existing school on the same site, and is slated to be complete by August of 2023.

“This is going to be your new school,” Superintendent Dr. Deirdre Pilch told the students who gathered for the groundbreaking. Because of high winds, the ceremony was hosted inside the gymnasium, and the ceremonial groundbreaking took place outside the gym to the north. “I want you to be curious and interested about what is going on here, and think about all the different people with different careers it will take to build this new school.”

A Mission and Vision Task Force met six times in late 2020 and received input from students and parents. It was decided Madison will convert from an elementary school to a preschool-eighth grade building, serving the same boundary. The school will focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) and will work toward becoming an AVID Showcase School.

The new James Madison STEAM Academy will be built for 750 students, and will include a community health clinic in partnership with Sunrise Community Health. The building is being designed and constructed by Hord, Coplan, Macht, and Adolfson and Peterson respectively, the same team who designed and built the new Greeley West High School, which will officially open in August.