Elementary school future discussed at CPS meeting

If Columbia Public Schools stays on course with its planning and expansion schedule, it could reduce the number of external classroom trailers to 17.

That’s down from their peak trailer number of 173.

The district’s Long Range Facilities Planning Committee met Thursday to discuss several planned projects, as well as which schools officials should keep an eye on as population growth continues. The district estimates that in 10 years, the school population will increase by 30 percent.

The committee discussed elementary school expansion in particular. Those schools use 38 of the district’s 65 trailers, with some of them heading out in the next three years because of planned school expansion.

Facilities Director Charles Oestreich presented plans specifically for the Lee Expressive Arts Elementary expansion. Oestreich said the district could start construction as early as February 2019 and complete the work in December 2020. Students would not be able to be on site, he said, due to the scope of the work intended.

“It just would not be a safe environment for kids to be in,” Oestreich said.

Completing the project in December 2020 would also mean moving those students and staff back into Lee in the middle of a school year. Oestriech and Superintendent Peter Stiepleman proposed starting the work in July 2019 and completing it in July 2021.

Lee Elementary is due for some major work, said Susie Adams, past president of the Missouri State Teachers Association. Damaged books due to flooding has made the teachers’ work room a storage unit, Adams said, and overcrowding there raises class sizes.

Adams said she preferred the second construction option for Lee. A move in the middle of the school year, as proposed in the first scenario, would make things harder for students and staff.

“Especially elementary kids, first and second grade, kindergarten, they have these routines established,” Adams told ABC 17 News. “And so if they just start with a new school year, I think that’s the best option.”

District leaders will also need to identify which schools are due for expansion before overcrowding becomes an issue. New neighborhoods in northeast, east and south Columbia stand to push the limits of schools in that area, said Jill Brown, the head of the district’s elementary education.