Kelso School planning for new building

NEW HAMBURG -- For years, the Kelso school district in New Hamburg has worked to keep its students on the cutting edge and provide the best education possible.

Now, school officials say to continue that, a new school building is needed, the Sikeston Standard Democrat reported.

"We live in a technology-driven society, and need to make sure we can provide that for our kids," said Kim Burger, principal. "Our electrical wiring will not currently support a lot of the technology that even our nearby parochial schools provide."

The school was built in 1938 and is leased from St. Lawrence Church. Just under 100 kindergarten through eighth grade students attend.

Plans call for a new building to include the same rooms as the current one: nine regular classrooms, one special education room, a computer lab, library, art room, cafeteria and offices.

In a special board meeting held Oct. 6, school board members decided to begin looking for land to purchase. In Tuesday's regular board meeting, they discussed interviewing architects, doing a needs assessment and looking for a bond service.

"This building has served us for many years and been a great building through the times," said Burger. "But as time goes on, different needs have arisen."

A new building has been an issue for some time -- Superintendent William Rogers said it was brought up when he interviewed for his job almost two years ago.

"I knew then that the board had been thinking about wanting to provide better facilities for the children," he said.

In addition to wiring problems, there is also an issue with accessibility in the four-story school.

"I teach on the fourth floor and have to go to the second floor to use the bathroom," Burger said. "And if we had a handicapped student, it would really present a problem."

Rogers said the new building would be safer in the event of issues such as earthquakes.

"We just want to provide a better and safer educational environment for our children," he said.

Burger said for nine consecutive years, the district has earned a distinction in performance, which is quite rare.

"We need to make sure we keep that going and we really feel a new building will help us do that," she said. "It will just put us up one more notch."

There are also some convenience issues with the current building.

Classrooms are varying sizes in the school -- so if a teacher with a small classroom is anticipating a larger number of students, he or she would have to change rooms, said Burger.

"Also, to get to two of our classrooms, you have to walk through others classrooms," she said.

Earlier this year, the board of education formed an Organizational Betterment Committee that consisted of staff, administration, board members and community members, said Burger. Those group members formed a survey concerning the possible construction of a new school and distributed it to registered voters in the district.

"And the response was profoundly in favor of a new building," she said. "People realize the building has served its purpose, but it's time for a new building."

Burger said administrators set up a fund a few years ago to be used for building repairs or a new building. That account has about $750,000 -- which would be the seed money for a new school. Officials are also pursuing grant applications and stimulus funds.

However, it wouldn't cover all the costs, so school officials said a bond issue will be placed on the ballot, possibly as early as April.

"We don't want to rush this," Burger continued. "We want to make sure this is done right for the community. We plan to do as much as we can to make sure the community knows the ins and outs of what it's going to take to get this done."

Those involved are not putting any specifications on the land.

"We know we're going to need enough land to put the school and provide for buses and a playground," said Rogers.

Until land is located and a price is determined, the total cost for the project will be unknown. Utilities, sewage and other factors will influence that, said Rogers.