Nell Holcomb construction continues

As workmen remove the walls of the 30-year-old gym, construction continues on a new parking lot and front entrance to the rural Nell Holcomb School.

It's all part of a more than $2 million project that includes replacing the gym and adding classrooms to the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school on Highway 177.

"We started basically right after the Fourth of July," said Nell Holcomb superintendent Darryl Pannier, who hopes the parking lot and a new front entrance will be finished when classes start Aug. 16.

"It is going to be a positive thing for our school," Pannier said of the parking lot and front entrance. "Parking has always been at a premium out here."

Parents have had to cope with limited parking for everything from chili suppers to school concerts, he said, but the new concrete parking lot will eliminate such traffic jams.

The new front entrance will face Highway 177, which runs in front of the school on the east side of the building. The old front entrance is actually on the north side of the building and isn't readily visible from the highway.

The project will be done without a tax increase. The district plans to fund it with three lease-purchase agreements, totaling $2.3 million combined, Pannier said. The debt would be paid off over 10 to 20 years, he said.

The school board is scheduled to approve the financing at its meeting Aug. 9.

The walls of the old gym are being removed in preparation for building a new gym and classroom building. It will cover about 11,000 square feet over two levels.

The main level will feature a music room and stage on the east end, a basketball court in the middle with bleacher seating and a coach's office and storage area on the west end.

New classrooms will be added on the lower level.

Pannier said the new building will provide badly needed space. Families have crowded into the old gym for student presentations and performances.

In addition, the project alleviates structural problems. The walls of the old gym have shifted, adding to the need to replace it, he said.

Nell Holcomb staff and students will have to work around the construction this fall, Pannier said.

"It is going to be a squeeze for us for a little while," he said.

The school has about 340 students.

The approximately 40 fourth-grade students will be moved into a double-wide, two-classroom trailer while the new gym and classrooms are being constructed, the superintendent said.

School officials hope all of the construction can be completed by late December.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123