CPS group begins charting next 10-year facilities plan
Megan Favignano @MFavignano
Sep 14, 2017 at 7:50 PM Sep 14, 2017 at 7:50 PM
Columbia Public Schools is starting to prioritize its facilities plan for the next decade as the district works to keep up with population growth and building maintenance.
The Board of Education Long-range Facilities Planning Committee on Thursday discussed a few projects that need to be addressed in the plan, including further work to eliminate trailers, a timeline for the addition at Lee Expressive Arts and what happens to the current Cedar Ridge building once the new facility opens.
CPS is holding a world cafe event next month to gather community input on its facilities and how the district should prioritize its long-range facilities plan. The world cafe will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 2 at the Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center, 2601 S. Providence Road.
The last facilities plan prioritized efforts to reduce the number of trailers and maintain small class sizes. Charlie Oestreich, CPS director of facilities and construction services, said the district once had 173 trailers and now is down to 65 with plans to use just 17 by 2021. Currently, the district's high schools no longer have trailers, there are 26 at middle schools and 39 at elementary schools.
Michelle Baumstark, CPS spokeswoman, said a large percentage of students at Cedar Ridge Elementary School learn in trailers because the school is long past its capacity. A new Cedar Ridge school building is set to open in fall 2018 and will give the school room to grow without using trailers.
CPS Superintendent Peter Stiepleman said the committee will need to find ways to eliminate trailers still left at Benton, Fairview, Rock Bridge Elementary and Two Mile Prairie.
The district has used trailers placed onsite at schools as a temporary fix to overcrowding. CPS has renovated current buildings, adjusted attendance areas and built new schools to ease the pain overcrowding has caused. Stiepleman said the district is projecting further enrollment growth — about 2,000 students in the next decade.
Once Cedar Ridge students move into their new building, the district will need to decide what it does with the current school building.
An addition to Lee Expressive Arts is another project which will help the district cut its trailer use to 17 in the next few years. Stiepleman on Thursday asked the facilities planning committee and district staff in attendance what they thought about pushing the completion date for the Lee addition and renovation from December 2020 to July 2021.
The group agreed extending the project's timeline made most sense because it prevents students and teachers from changing school buildings in the middle of the school year. Oestreich said the construction timeline needed to complete the project by December 2020 involves putting out bids during the winter months.
"Generally, you're not going to get as good of bids in when you're bidding in the middle of winter," he told the committee.
CPS has plans for construction of a new middle school in south Columbia. This summer, the board of education approved a $2.9 million land purchase agreement for 63 acres of Sinclair Farm. The district's evaluation of the land is complete and Anna Munson, CPS chief financial officer, said the district is expected to close on the sale next week.
The new middle school will relieve overcrowding at Gentry Middle School. While the land purchase and design of the school are funded through a bond issue voters approved last year, Stiepleman said the board of education will need to consider asking voters to approve another no-tax-increase bond issue in spring 2018 to fund construction.
Munson said capital improvements to existing buildings are just as important as new building projects. New schools have been necessary for the district to handle population growth. As CPS constructs new buildings, it leaves room for further growth. Stiepleman said the district will again begin attendance area changes in May, a process which he described as emotional for families.
Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education Jill Dunlap Brown told the committee on Thursday a new development near Paxton Keeley Elementary School will add 133 houses to the area. Paxton Keeley's building is already at capacity.
"It's a good problem to have in that people want to live in Columbia and we have such great growth," she said. "But at the same time that means our boundaries change a lot. Those are tough choices to make."
The past decade, Baumstark said the district tackled a slew of projects, including building four new elementary schools and Battle High School, making classroom additions to West Boulevard and Shepard Boulevard, renovating Douglass High School and improving air conditioning across the district. Jim Whitt, board of education member and committee chairman, said the district has invested a significant resources into facilities the past 10 years.
"Now it's time to start on a new plan to look forward," he said. "Where do we go in the future?"
The committee plans to meet on the second Thursday of each month. At its next meeting, the group will discuss what input CPS receives at the world cafe event and begin to prioritize projects.
mfavignano@columbiatribune.com