Crowded Meadows Heights considers $1 million bond issue

It's a 12-by-20-foot, brown-tiled room with five bathroom stalls, three sinks, three mirrors and little room to walk.

But the sole girls' restroom at Meadow Heights Elementary is shared by around 160 girls in kindergarten through sixth grade.

"It gets very crowded. Sometimes, I see girls pushing and shoving in front of the mirrors," said sixth-grader Kirsten Pointer. "Nobody wants to wait their turn, and there's not enough room anyway."

It's just one example of a lack of space in the Meadow Heights School District that has school board members considering the possibility of a future $1 million bond issue, which would mean a tax increase of around 2 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

Superintendent Duane Schindler said the board should make a final decision in the next few months so the issue could be included on a fall 2003 ballot.

Lining the halls

The elementary school has just one set of boys' and girls' restrooms shared by 320 students. According to elementary principal Donna Bristow, there are times during the day when several classes are lined up in the hallway waiting to use the bathrooms.

"It takes away from instructional time," said second grade teacher LaDonna Mills. "Five minutes here and there adds up throughout the day. We're expected to teach more and more subjects, but we have less time. It's a challenge."

Adding to that challenge is a space shortage in the school cafeteria. Since the current cafeteria can only hold 200 students, lunch has been broken down into three periods. Elementary students, including Mills' second-grade class, begin eating at 10:30 a.m.

"They're hungry by the end of the day," Mills said. "And there's a big difference in kids' behavior in the morning and afternoon. They're more focused and attentive in the morning."

Meadow Heights parent Tonya Mungle said her sixth-grade son and second-grade daughter have both commented on the problems with the bathroom and cafeteria.

"It's almost like herding cattle through there," Mungle said. "They don't even have time to eat their lunch because there's a large volume of students that go through there so quickly."

Met with architects

Last week, superintendent Duane Schindler and school board members met with local architects to discuss construction options.

According to Schindler, the board is considering converting the current elementary gymnasium into additional bathrooms and classroom space and building a separate gymnasium on the north side of the school, behind the playground area.

Because of its size and location, school officials say the current elementary gymnasium isn't serviceable.

"It has no seating and no stage area, so it can't be used for sporting events or class productions," said Bristow. "It's really only good for P.E. classes."

According to Bristow, lack of space has been a concern at Meadow Heights for the past five years, and the district's efforts to alleviate the problem have been ongoing.

In the last three years, the school gained some space by adding three double-wide trailers, a single-wide trailer and a 10,000- square-foot metal building for the junior high.

The $400,000 junior high addition, which houses seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms, two sixth-grade classrooms and a computer lab, was paid for with money from the district's capital projects fund and did not require a tax increase.

A 3,600-square-foot addition to the metal building is currently under construction, and should be completed over the Christmas break.

The addition brings much-needed relief to the junior high and high school, said high school principal Victor Martin.

'Not an absolute crisis'

Martin said a lack of classroom space has forced several high school classes to meet in the library, and at least one teacher doesn't have a permanent classroom.

"It's not an absolute crisis, but it's really inconvenient," Martin said. "After this construction is completed, every teacher should have a classroom."

The district still owes $475,000 on its last bond issue, which was passed in 1995 to renovate the high school and install air conditioners. Schindler said the school board is considering an extension on that bond, which is due in 2008. A 20-year extension would yield approximately $750,000 for the district without an increase in the debt service, which is currently at 35 cents.

"I'm not saying a bond wouldn't pass, but it'll be a tough sell," Schindler said. "There's always going to be those people who will vote 'no', no matter what. And there will always be those people who will vote 'yes'. It's those people straddling the fence who we've got to convince."

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128