The Ventura County Office of Education officially broke ground on a new special education school in Camarillo Monday evening. The 29,944-square-foot, two-story building will become the new, permanent home of Triton Academy, which serves students with autism in third through twelfth grades. The new school will be located next to the VCOE Conference and Educational Services Center on Adolfo Road.

Triton Academy is moving out of its longtime campus on Temple Ave. in Camarillo, which is owned by the Pleasant Valley School District. Beginning this summer, Triton Academy will operate out of temporary facilities near the Camarillo Airport. The school will move to the new building on Adolfo Rd. once it’s complete, which is expected to be sometime during the 2019-2020 school year.

At Monday's groundbreaking event, local dignitaries ceremonially turned the first scoop of dirt to mark the beginning of construction. They included Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Stan Mantooth, members of the Ventura County Board of Education, Triton Academy's current and future principals, and representatives from the construction and architectural firms who are working on the project.

The $15 million in funding for the new building is coming from Proposition 51, a statewide school facilities bond measure that voters approved in November of 2016. The new school will be built by Oxnard-based Viola Constructors and it was designed by DC Architects. Additional information about Triton Academy is available at www.vcoe.org/triton.

Watch a live webcam and time lapse videos of the construction progressing at www.vcoe.org/mesc.