$36 million Eagle Bluffs Elementary on track for 2026 completion
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Safety and a strong learning environment is a top priority for Columbia Public Schools' new Eagle Bluffs Elementary.
The district broke ground on the project in the spring of 2024 and remains on track to be completed by fall 2026.
The new two-story, $36 million facility will span 76,500 square feet and is located on 5400 S. Sinclair Road next to John Warner Elementary School. The new facility was approved by voters in two bond issue elections. One in 2018 to purchase land as part of the planning for John Warner Middle School and one in 2022 to construct the school.
The school offers six color-coded learning pods, each with its own unique theme and color scheme. The names for the pods includes Field, Lake, Cave, City, Prairie and Woodlands to go along with the Eagle Bluffs Conservation area. The emphasis on color throughout the building will allow students to have a collaborative learning environment.
"There's been a lot of research that's been done about color and clutter in school buildings and so our goal is to make a colorful building that can still remain clutter free," Eagle Bluffs Elementary School Principal Sarah Sicht said. We're building a place where the school is going to fit the kids instead of making kids fit a school. Lots of opportunities for collaboration, open space and integration.
Once complete, the school will accommodate up to 740 students and 140 staff members. Sicht is anticipating the school to open with about 400 students and up to 70 staff members.
All of the furniture in the building will be on wheels and casters, allowing easy furniture arrangements in order to fit the needs of students, Sicht said. The school will also include dedicated elective spaces for art and music learning.
The cafeteria area, Sicht said, was designed more like a secondary cafeteria. It offers bar-height tables and chairs along a window and there will be booths along a large wall. The tables will be interchangeable, allowing different shapes and different seating options.
Three playgrounds are also offered that are up to ADA standards.
The design of the building is not the first to be used for a school. According to Project Director Nichole Vonderhaar with Rinehart Wilson, a nearly identical school, Crestview Elementary, was built in north Kansas City.
"We actually have a prototype building that we can go and see and use what lessons were learned. A construction issue that they ran into that we can fix and make sure we do right on this one," Vonderhaar said.
The school's gymnasium was also designed to serve as a storm shelter.
"It's a storm shelter for the school. So if there was an emergency situation, all the students would file into the gym. This is all precast concrete, so it's like a food thick, so nothing's coming through these walls. The doors are also rated to withstand certain level of wind speed and projectiles," Vonderhaar said.
The building features numerous windows designed to bring in natural light while still maintaining safety measures throughout the building.
"The school will also have a secure vestibule with bullet resistant glass. We also have protocols in place where they have shades that if we go into a security situation where there would be somebody that got past the secure vestibule, all the students and teachers would file in their classrooms, get in a spot where they couldn't be seen by the windows," Vonderhaar said.
The school will also have the Raptor System that CPS has throughout all district buildings, that requires all guest to check in with a photo ID.
Sicht says she is thrilled to be a part of opening Eagle Bluffs Elementary School and hopes everyone feels a sense of "awe" when they enter the building.
