Whitehall-Coplay School District held the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Clarence M. Gockley Elementary School building July 21.

WCSD Superintendent Dr. Robert Steckel kicked off the ceremony, and Gockley Principal Denise Saylor also offered remarks during the event, held on the school district campus, Mechanicsville and MacArthur roads.

Steckel, who arrived at WCSD after the project planning and early construction for the new school started several years earlier, praised all involved with the completion of the school. The building is a testament to the commitment Whitehall has to educating its children, he said.

“We are beyond excited to open this school,” Saylor said. “Our young students have the facilities and programs to succeed in the future.”

Saylor added this school demonstrates the district’s commitment to education.

“There are so many people to thank that delivered to get the school done on time and on budget,” Whitehall-Coplay School Board President William Fonzone Sr. said.

He thanked former Superintendent Dr. Lorie Hackett and former school board President Wayne Grim, who initially spearheaded the effort.

“This school is a wonderful opportunity for our kindergartners and first-graders to become Zephyrs,” Fonzone added.

Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong, a retired Whitehall High School teacher and coach, noted Lehigh County has a 6.1% growth rate while the rest of Pennsylvania averages around 1%. People want to live in Whitehall because of the schools and quality of life good schools bring, he said.

State Sen. Nick Miller, D-14th, noted how difficult it is to complete a project to build a new school. He was previously an Allentown School District director. He thanked everyone involved in the development of this remarkable school.

“If you don’t have a strong school, you won’t have a strong community,” Miller said.

In his remarks, Arif Fazil, D’Huy Engineering president, said the amount of work put into building the school was phenomenal. To get it done on time and on budget is a feat.

“There were 145,000 skilled craft hours of work needed to complete the project, not to mention other workers’ hours,” he said.

The school board members present — Fonzone, Nichole Hartman, George Williams and Fady Salloum — were thanked for their hard work to see the project through. The previous school board members who worked with the planning and early construction who were in attendance, including Grim, Tina Koren, Bill Leiner and Joe Shields, were recognized and thanked.

Excited to tour the new school were future kindergartner Stevie Holzlohner, his parents Zancheska and Steven, young Jack and grandmother Tracy Wheeler. The family was impressed with the school, and Stevie is ready to start kindergarten next month.

The event was assisted by Whitehall Area Chamber of Commerce representatives. They helped all attending to celebrate an exciting milestone and tour the new state-of-the-art facility that will contribute to Whitehall-Coplay community’s growth and development.

All five of the WCSD schools — Gockley, grades K and 1; Steckel, grades 2 and 3; Zephyr, grades 4 and 5; Whitehall-Coplay Middle School, grades 6-8; and Whitehall High School, grades 9-12 — sit on a 143-acre campus. Approximately 4,300 students attend the schools.

In addition to the schools, the campus houses the administration building, a shipping and receiving building, a transportation center, football stadium and sports fields, all-purpose sports stadium and a field house.