Columbia school district breaks ground for new east elementary school

CPS voted earlier this month on a contract for construction of a new elementary school in east Columbia and Thursday morning, community leaders took the first steps in that construction project.

It will be located just outside the Vineyards neighborhood at the corner of Columbia Gorge Parkway and Howell Mt. Drive.

We’re going to have a bike-able, walk-able school,” said superintendent Peter Steipleman. “That’s something our board has said that they value, something our community has said that they value and we’re excited to become part of the family here in the Vineyards.”

Members of the school board, Chamber of Commerce and residents of the nearby Vineyards subdivision came out as local leaders shoveled the first plots of dirt for the project.

Vineyards residents recently had concerns about safety and traffic flow to the new school but said much of it was resolved with a plan to build a second road.

“The homeowners association did an excellent job working with the school district to figure out what the needs were,” said James Melton, a resident and CPS employee. “I don’t know if everybody got what they wanted but compromise was reached and we’re moving forward with a brand new building, which is really exciting.”

But school officials said they feel they’ve reached a “win-win” situation with the residents and there’s no ill will.

“That’s just part of the process,” Stiepleman said.

He and other school officials said they are confident the new school will be a benefit, easing the overcrowding currently happening at Cedar Ridge Elementary, where they currently have students learning in dozens of trailers.

“Sometimes people forget that when you add trailers to a building you have more kids using the same facilities,” said Kathy Steinhoff, president of the Columbia Missouri National Education Association. “The same number of bathrooms, the same size library, the same size the gym and all of those resources are really strained when you have more kids out in trailers.”

Melton said as a former music teacher who now works administration for the fine arts department at CPS, he feels like trailers should be a temporary fix, but eventually need to be replaced.

“The real place for the teacher to be is in the building where they feel connected to that community,” he said. “To continue to see the trailer number drop and knowing that we’re bringing all of our faculty and staff into buildings where they can have access to students and be with their administration is the way to be.”

Bond funds to build the school were approved by voters in 2014 and the entire project will cost about $22 million. That includes land, design, technology, furnishing, and that extra road.

The school will have a capacity of 650 students and should be completed in May 2018, replacing the use of Cedar Ridge as the elementary school. Students are expected to begin attending classes in August of 2018.

The building does not have a name yet and is part of the district’s long-range facility plan to address the continued growth in Columbia.