Kelso School District seeks new building

As motorists travel toward New Hamburg, Missouri, bright yellow signs along the side of the road urge them: “Vote yes for Prop Kids.”

Proposition Kids is a referendum being included on Scott County’s Aug. 2 election ballot that, if passed, will increase property taxes by 75 cents per $100 of valuation over the next 20 years in areas served by the Kelso School District.

“What we’re asking to do is raise $3.3 million in total funds to build a new school,” said superintendent Kim Burger, who also serves as principal of the one-building district that serves about 120 students in grades pre-K through eight.

Once students complete eighth grade, they can attend the nearby Scott City, Oran, Kelly or Chaffee high schools.

If the ballot issue is successful, the tax money will be used to pay off general-obligation bonds for the school project.

Laura Orr, left, and Linda Senciboy work on a project Thursday in the office at Kelso School in New Hamburg, Missouri.Laura Simon

That means, for example, someone with a $150,000 house would pay an additional $17.81 a month, or $213.75 a year, in property taxes, according to campaign information.

Lauren Heuring, who is spearheading the campaign to get the ballot issue passed, said the current school building at 1016 Route A in New Hamburg is 78 years old, and talk of a new building has been circulating for some time in the district.

“We’re just thinking, what about the next 78 years?” she said. “It’s about keeping a tradition alive.”

In February, the existing school building, which the district rents from St. Lawrence Parish, had to be evacuated when a wall shifted in the cafeteria.

Students and teachers finished out the year across the street at the parish center and in temporary modular buildings.

Although the situation did not cause the need for a new school building, it served to expedite it, Burger said.

As early as 2009, the district launched a feasibility study for a possible bond issue but decided not enough funding was available.

Then, during the 2014-2015 school year, the need for better facilities became apparent as the district worked on its comprehensive school-improvement plan.

The school board also reignited the discussion about a new building because of leaks and plumbing issues.

In May, just a few months after the cafeteria wall caused the evacuation, the board voted unanimously to put the bond issue before voters Aug. 2.

They also bought eight acres of nearby farmland in June as a potential site for a new school building.

The land cost $25,000 per acre, and the seller donated two additional acres.

“It’s just so exciting to see if (the bond issue) passes, our school being able to spread out,” Heuring said.

The original school, which is built into the side of a hill, was constructed in 1938 as St. Lawrence Catholic School.

It didn’t become the Kelso School District until 1969.

Burger said since she’s been in the district the past four years, enrollment has climbed from 83 students to between 130 and 140 expected to attend next year — another factor in building a larger facility.

If the bond issue passes, site work on the new, 22,000-square-foot building will begin in the fall, with most construction expected to be completed by fall 2017.

The building will have one level instead of the current four, with increased security features and more uniform classroom sizes.

Its 10-acre site also will allow for future growth, including a combination gymnasium and safe room to be built in a second phase of construction.

Meanwhile, the old school building will be reabsorbed by the parish and is likely to become a retreat center for clergy, Catholic school principals and youth groups.

“We are prepared to spend the next year in (the current) building, until the new building is built,” Burger said.

ljones@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3652

Pertinent address:

1016 Route A, New Hamburg, Mo.