Contact: Lisa Deffendall • First Posted: Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Dignitaries and neighborhood representatives will officially break ground on the newest Fayette County Public Schools elementary school being built on Keithshire Way.

The ceremony starts at 10 a.m. Friday May 7 at the site, 3280 Keithshire Way, and the public is invited.

The school, which has yet to be named, will open for the first day of school in August 2011. Expected to enroll roughly 650 students, the $17.1 million elementary school, which is designed by GBBN Architects Inc. and under construction by D.W. Wilburn Inc., will be the most energy-efficient and sustainable school in Fayette County.

The Keithshire school will be the first elementary school constructed to ease overcrowding in south Lexington since Rosa Parks and Veterans Park elementaries opened more than 10 years ago. The districts’ three newest elementary schools -- Liberty, Sandersville and William Wells Brown, which opened in 2009 -- all replaced aging facilities.