Altenburg School District to build a new gym

ALTENBURG, Mo. -- The Altenburg School District plans to have a new gymnasium by the 2015-2016 school year.

Superintendent Bleu Deckerd said in an email to the Southeast Missourian that the 9,000-square-foot building will house a middle-school-sized regulation gym, an art/music classroom, office space, kitchen, restrooms and storage.

The new building will have a kitchen in the basement and the side area of the gym will act as the cafeteria, Deckerd wrote.

The structure will be recessed into the ground with a concrete foundation, making it a safer from storms.

Deckerd said the district, which has 113 students in grades pre-K through eight, hopes to start construction in October.

Bond issues in 2010 and 2013, in which the district tried to pass a tax increase, failed. The 2010 bond issue would have provided $2.4 million for a new school on property the district owns on Route C, adjacent to its current preschool. The most recent would have gone for constructing a consolidated building to house kindergarten through eighth grade.

Estimated cost of the current project is $740,000, Deckerd wrote. Of that, $700,000 will be financed through the sale of lease certificates, which are another form of long-term borrowing similar to bonds, but paid out of district funds, said Tom Pisarkiewicz, vice president of LJ Hart & Co., which arranged project financing. Additional costs will be absorbed through district fund balances.

He noted the district will be able to complete the project without raising taxes by designating part of its current levy for capital projects.

Steve Roth and Dennis Miesner, owners of M&R Construction in Frohna, Missouri, were hired as project managers. They will manage all construction by subcontractors and no contracts have been awarded for any at this point.

"The new facilities will solve a number of safety issues," Decker said. "This will allow for all students pre-K through eighth to travel to and from all classes and all in-school activities under one roof, which is important for both safety-related issues and weather-related issues. The new gymnasium will be in-ground and have a 9-foot concrete foundation wall on three sides, which will act as a storm/safety shelter in the event of a tornado [or] severe storms."

The new structure will sit on two lots the district recently purchased east of the current campus, which is anchored by a red-brick school building that is more than 100 years old.

The building currently used for PE and recess -- which has no insulation, heating or air conditioning -- eventually will be taken down, allowing for additional playground space and an outdoor courtyard, Deckerd wrote.

The APS Preschool eventually will be moved from its current location on Route C to the main campus on Main Street, aka Route A. Long-range plans are to sell the current preschool building, along with the connecting property when the building project is completed, he wrote.

Building committee member and technology teacher Kim Boxdorfer said the district has never had a gymnasium, other than the current structure, built in the 1980s by school parents and staff.

"I think it is our best step forward with the resources we have," Boxdorfer said. "I think it's going to be a wonderful benefit to our school and our community. It will provide a safe, appropriate place for us to play ... to have physical education and to have sports" out of the weather.

Bids were requested for demolishing or removing two houses and outbuildings on the new building site, and eight sealed bids were received. People were offered a chance to bid on the materials and furnishings inside the homes and to purchase a wooden building and metal shed.

Old Appleton Mercantile of Appleton, Missouri, was awarded the bid for the contents and furnishings of houses, and salvage work has been underway, Deckerd wrote.

Rick Hoffman, a former Altenburg superintendent, was awarded the bid for one of the outbuildings, and Harold France, the mayor of Altenburg, was awarded the bid for the other outbuilding.

Lease certificates

Under Missouri law, the Altenburg board of education may enter into lease-purchase agreements to finance capital facilities needs and major equipment purchases, according to information from LJ Hart & Co.

"It's another form of borrowing for the long term," said Tom Pisarkiewicz, vice president of LJ Hart. "They're similar to bonds, but they're paid out of a district's operating fund."

The legal structure of a lease purchase requires the district to enter agreements with a not-for-profit corporation. In this case, Missouri Association of Rural Education is borrowing funds on behalf of the district, Pisarkiewicz said.

The district agrees to lease its facilities to the not-for-profit corporation in return for upfront funding of $735,000 through the sale of lease certificates. At the conclusion of the lease, the encumbrances to the district's facilities are removed. A capital facilities lease is expended through the district's operating funds and does not require voter approval.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

8432 Main St., Altenburg, Missouri