ARUNDEL — The Mildred L. Day School community and town officials gathered Tuesday afternoon to break ground on an $8.6 million renovation and reconstruction project on the deteriorating elementary school.

Mildred L. Day School was built in 1960, and additions and renovations were made in 1968, 1976 and 1999. It provides education for students from kindergarten through fifth grade.

“This is truly a monumental day for our three communities,” Mary Beth Luce, Regional School Unit 21 School Board vice chairwoman and an Arundel resident, said at the groundbreaking ceremony. RSU 21 includes Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.

Luce said last winter was “harrowing” for school officials, as heavy snow required constant monitoring of the structural integrity of the library and gymnasium, and the school sustained broken water pipes both inside and outside the building.

“I’m confident that I speak for the entire Arundel community when I say we are grateful to be putting those problems behind us,” she said.

Part of the school is situated on clay, which causes settling, according to the school district. In addition to breaks in water pipes, the settling of the building has caused cracks in the foundation, and walls to pull apart from each other.

The project will increase the size of the current 40,500-square-foot school by about 1,000 square feet. Part of the building will be torn down and replaced with nearly 26,000 square feet of new construction, according to building documents.

The final project will include a new library, a computer lab and a gymnasium, and arrange all classrooms in a unified area. Renovations are expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Arundel Town Manager Keith Trefethen said the school was not only a place for quality education, but a center for activities for the town, including public meetings.

“It will really be a showpiece for this community to really be proud of,” he said.

The project is being funded with $56.5 million earmarked for school renovation projects in RSU 21 that was approved overwhelmingly by voters in June 2015.

“What they (voters) told us was very simple: Our facilities should match the caliber of our teachers and our students,” said Mildred L. Day School Principal Kevin Crowley.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].