Forum set for Monday to review Perry County schools assessment

The Perry County School District is seeking opinions from community members as it creates a plan to relieve crowding and make structural improvements to its campus.

Two public forums will be held Monday at the Perry Park Center Theater in Perryville, Missouri. The first session will run from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and the second from 7 to 8 p.m.

Attendees will be presented with results of the campuswide facilities assessment conducted by Incite Design and Vue Engineering. Superintendent Andy Comstock will share information on district financing with the community.

“This process has included inspections of our entire campus, from furnaces and foundations to roofs and classroom sizes, as well as interviewing and polling our teachers and staff about our programs,” Comstock said in a news release. “It’s been very thorough.”

“Our independent review highlighted the need for more space on campus,” Aaron Harte, project manager with Incite Design Studios, said in the release.

The Kansas City, Missouri-based architecture firm also is involved in the facility planning underway at the Jackson school district.

Along with crowding, Harte said, “we’ve also found serious deficiencies in structures at the middle school, which pose safety concerns for students.”

In July, the Southeast Missourian reported some of the issues found by Incite Design Studios during its study. Those include problems with crowding, boilers and HVAC systems still in use beyond their life expectancy and power distribution and circuit breakers that weren’t designed to support computer technology.

Some of those issues listed, as well as a few others, have been addressed since the report, said Kate Martin, communications director for the school district.

“We’re steadily making improvements on campus,” Martin said.

Capital-improvement projects include a new floor for the high-school gymnasium, a new roof for the elementary school and for the fifth-grade building and new heating and cooling systems for many of the buildings.

The facility-planning process began in November 2015, when district parents asked the school board to form a facilities committee to explore challenges facing the district, particularly crowding at the elementary school level.

“We knew there was overcrowding. Now, through the study, we know we’re 2 1/2 grades over capacity across the campus,” Martin said.

This comes to a total of about 400 students.

The forum will be an opportunity for the residents to give opinions and ideas.

“We’ll be presenting the challenges we’re facing, and through interactive polling by text, people are going to be able to tell us what their priorities are and what kind of process moving forward they would support,” Martin said.

This would allow “everyone in attendance to help us formulate our final plan,” Comstock said in the release.

Last month, the district held a similar forum for staff. Martin said it was a success, and text-based polling allowed for immediate feedback.

“We have some significant challenges ahead, but I am confident that we can meet those challenges if we work together,” Comstock said. “It’s important for all of us to have a voice in this process if we hope to develop a successful plan, so I’m hopeful that many people can participate.”

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

800 City Park Drive, Perryville, MO