Construction at Immaculate Conception on schedule

The teachers and faculty at Immaculate Conception Catholic School are getting inspiration from an additional source these days.

Being a religious institution, they get much of their inspiration from a higher power. They are also inspired by the children who walk the halls and play on the playground.

But there's another inspiration that gets bigger every day. It comes in the form of concrete and tall steel beams. The construction of a new addition to the school helps the teachers and children cope with a temporary, less-than-ideal situation.

When the school was struck by a tornado on May 6 last year, teachers and church officials were left scrambling not only to find a way to have school this year but also to find a way to rebuild in time for next school year.

The temporary solution was for grades third through eighth to meet in a series of modular buildings. The building meets the needs of the school but is not without its problems.

The rooms are too small, with desks lined up right next to each other. The walls are so thin children can be heard from the next room.

"We haven't been able to do as many hands-on activities as we've been able to do in the past," said fifth-grade teacher Lou Ellis.

Shanna Kelley's fifth-grade class is adjacent to a rest room which can get quite loud sometimes because of students talking. She says the noise disruption is the worst thing about the modular setup.

"Any time we have a spelling or reading test, I'll just bang on the wall and they'll know to be quiet," Kelley said.

But the situation is more acceptable knowing that help is on the way.

Principal Tami Nenninger said construction is still on schedule for an Aug. 15 dedication.

The $4 million, 49,000 square-foot construction project will include 12 classrooms, a music/band room, a library, a teachers' workroom, a preschool room, a multipurpose room and a gymnasium.

Nenninger said the classroom section of the construction will be given priority. If anything goes past schedule, it will be the gymnasium.

Some of the teachers' frustrations have been offset by requests for suggestions to help design the new section.

"It's exciting to see how large the rooms will be ... they'll be twice the size," Ellis said. "The other day they asked about what kind of bookshelves we wanted."

The parish and school had long-range plans to expand the campus before the tornado hit, but they were 15-year plans, Nenninger said. The church building and school campus were to be increased in size in four phases. The first two phases were to expand the church facilities.

"We have four Masses, and in two of the four we have to set up chairs to make room for everybody," Nenninger said. "But the tornado kind of blew up those plans."

Immaculate Conception is still raising funds to cover the construction costs. The more money the school collects, Nenninger said, the lower the building payments will be.

Nenninger also said she thinks the construction will result in a larger student body.

Currently there are 265 students and 30 preschoolers enrolled at IC. Nenninger said she has already seen an increase in interest from new parents.

"We anticipate having two kindergartens again, but we've had a lot of interest shown in the upper grades, too," she said.