JACKSON BOARD MEETS IN NEW BUILDING

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Education held its first meeting in a new administrative building Tuesday night.

Upper lever administrators, bookkeepers and other office staff will all be housed in the new building, located at 614 E. Adams St. Support staff -- who work in transportation, food service, technology and buildings and grounds departments -- will remain in the old administrative building at 221 S. Oklahoma.

The district paid $190,000 for the property last spring to provide badly needed "breathing space" for district employees. Subcontractors and district employees began renovations last fall to make the building fully handicapped accessible and provide space for district meetings.

The building has approximately 5,0000-square feet of space and sits on about 2.78 acres, including parking.

Superintendent Dr. Howard Jones said the new facility was needed because the Oklahoma Street building had been criticized in the district's last Missouri School Improvement Program report for its split foyer that was not handicapped accessible. The older building also lacked sufficient parking and could not meet the growing needs of the district, Jones said.

"The size of the district and the number of employees has probably doubled since the old building was built," he said. "This building is much bigger and we'll have about 24 designated parking spaces -- including handicapped parking -- as well as access to street parking."

Board member Jack Knowlan Jr. said the district purchased the property for "a song." The building and property were purchased and renovated for about half of the appraisal price, and the results are a benefit to the district, he said.

"It was a tremendous bargain for the school district, and I think it will serve our needs very well," said Knowlan. "It's going to be much more comfortable for district employees at both buildings."