The vision of Selma High School is about to drastically change as Selma city and school leaders broke ground on the new $27 million project Saturday.

Construction will begin on the building immediately and will take nearly two and a half years to complete. The project will completely revitalize the property that has been home to the high school since 1939.

“Today is a day the entire city of Selma should embrace and come together in realizing the opportunity that has been afforded us,” Selma City Schools superintendent Donald Jefferson said to the nearly 100 people gathered for the groundbreaking.

“This project is not only for Selma City Schools, but Selma as a whole,” said Selma City School Board chairman Henry Hicks, following up Jefferson’s comments. “We are about to do something that we have been trying to do for a very, very long time. I see all the contractors here today. If it wasn’t for having this ceremony, we could be building today.”

Jefferson said the beginning of construction — which is set for Monday — is more than 35 years too late as far as he is concerned.

“I came to Selma High as a 10th grader in 1972. There was talk then of building a new high school. I came back to Selma High School in 1980 as a teacher and a coach and there was talk of a new high school,” Jefferson said. “I came back again in 1993 as principal of Selma High School and yes, there was still talk of building a new high school. I came back again in 2010 as superintendent and there was still talk of building a new high school.

“Well, now we are here and finally, finally we are breaking ground for a new Selma High School,” he said.

Construction crews will begin the proposed 600-day project Monday, placing barricades around the Broad Street entrance and other entrances on the west side of the campus.

“The hardest part of this project will be asking for everyone’s patience as we go through,” Selma High principal Wanda McCall said. “We are sending letters now, encouraging everyone to use the rear entrances and to remain patient with us.”

The current front entrance of the school with the ornate architecture will be partially preserved and will be used as the entrance for the new library facility.

Crews will first construct the new main building, which will be in front of the existing main building.

Jefferson said once those offices and classrooms are completed, students and teachers will be moved and then work will begin on transitioning the current buildings into the new plan.

“The students are so excited about the news,” McCall said. “Once we found out the project had been approved, I told the students and you could hear cheers throughout the entire school.”

McCall said the students, teachers and faculty have been looking forward to a new facility for some time, especially after battling all the problems a 70-year-old facility can develop.

Jefferson made sure to point out those problems and the stresses it places on the educational experience.

“No one knows better than I that bricks and mortar does not make a school,” Jefferson told the group. “But try telling that to the students who have had to endure and experience the hardship of trying to learn in a rundown school.”

Most of the project’s funding — $20 million — is coming through a grant from the state while the remaining funds will be paid for by the system. The $20 million will be repaid to the state, but Jefferson said the system already has the financing plans in place and the other funds have already been allocated.

The $20 million being loaned to the Selma system is just part of more than $350 million being distributed by the state to systems — many of them rural — for projects, Deputy State Superintendent of Education Craig Pouncey said. Pouncey was on hand, representing the Alabama Department of Education at the groundbreaking. The funding for the program was part of last year’s federal stimulus packages.

Longtime educator and principal in the Selma system, and one who served as chairman of the school board at one time and advocated a new Selma High School, Benjamin Givan, said Saturday’s groundbreaking is almost a dream come true.

“This building — like the one you see standing here — was at one time just an idea. Hopefully soon it will become a reality,” Givan told the crowd. “Thank all of you for keeping the torch alive. My hope, my dream will become a reality very soon.”