The SoBoCo school district has just completed major construction projects at the Primary, Elementary and High Schools. Now, the school board is planning for the next round of building.

The school board met last Tuesday, August 15 in Columbia for their annual retreat and discussed, among other items, the district’s next building project – the Middle School.

Board members discussed, but made no votes, holding a bond issue election in the Spring of 2018. The election would be a “no tax increase” bond issue as other bonds would soon be retired.

That project would build a facility – either a Middle School addition or a 5th and 6th grade facility – to the west of the current Middle School.

That move would require moving the Eagles high school baseball/softball facility to the north of the current athletic field/track.

Board member Kevin Schupp emphasized that the move of the baseball/softball field would be a secondary motivation for the election.

“The election would need to be about improving education,” Schupp said. “While we know that extra-curricular activities are an important part of a student’s education, we will first look at what we need for academic achievement.”

Schupp and school board President Barrett Glascock said the current wave of students at the Primary and Elementary Schools will mean a need for more classrooms at the Middle School level.

Chris Davis, the school district’s architect, provided the board members a few visual ideas of what a middle school could look like with a few different variations, as well as an athletic complex near the high school.

Glascock said there might be a need for more classrooms at the Elementary School as well as the Middle School.

~ Read the rest of the story in today’s Journal ~

By Bruce Wallace