PARIS – A group of local schoolchildren will overturn shovelfuls of earth at the site of the new Paris Elementary School as part of a special groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday.

The event will begin at 10:30 a.m and will feature school and municipal officials, children, their parents, the school architects and builders. The $12 million school is planned for a site off High Street between Hathaway Road and Meadow Lane. It is expected to be completed in 2006.

Once built, the school will house students who currently attend Mildred Fox Elementary School in Paris or Madison Avenue School in Oxford. The building will cover 60,000 square feet and contain preschool through grade six classrooms, accommodating 450 pupils.