AUSTIN - Site work has started on the new Overton Elementary School in the Austin Independent School District. A formal groundbreaking ceremony was held on Saturday, June 24. The 84,000 SF school is designed by O'Connell Robertson & Associates architects and engineers, in association with local architects CasaBella Architects and Architecture+Plus. The school is being funded by AISD's "Apple at Work" 2004 Bond Program.

The new school is named after civil rights activist Volma Overton. As President of the NAACP, Mr. Overton led the fight again segregationist practices in Austin. The school is part of an Austin ISD/City of Austin joint complex including Overton Elementary School and the Turner-Roberts Recreation Center. The two buildings createa shared facility with an enclosed corridor that joins the functions and facilitates cooperation between school and City programs. Shared areas include a gymnasium, playfields, playscapes and parking. Overton Elementary School will be a two-story, 32-classroom facility design for 800 students and open for classes the Fall of 2007.

The groundbreaking was attended by nearly 100 community members, including members of the Austin ISD School Board and staff, the Austin City Council and staff, neighborhood representatives, and members of the Overton, Turner and Roberts' families.


O'Connell Robertson & Associates, Inc. is an architecture/engineering firm founded in Austin in 1950. ORA has completed nearly 1,000 projects including multi-million dollar educational facilities for school districts throughout Central Texas. One of ORA's first projects with Austin ISD was the design of the Lucy Reed Elementary School in the 1970's. Since that first project, ORA has provided A/E services for numerous projects throughout the Austin school district. For more information, please visit www.oradesign.com.

Copyright 2002 O'Connell Robertson & Associates