The Poplar Bluff R-1 Long Range Planning Committee met Monday to discuss the district's upcoming needs, as projects left over from the 2014 bond issue are quickly wrapping up. Discussion primarily focused on the early childhood center, now located at the newer Mark Twain campus on Main Street, and potential options for a new location.
Built in 1955, the Mark Twain School building was originally designed to accommodate larger students, not 3- and 4-year-olds, said Principal Joanne Westbrook. The structure features heavy doors, outside pathways between buildings and an inconvenient and at times unsafe parking situation for parents, to name a few of the issues.
Westbrook said enrollment in 2016-17 was roughly 300 students split between morning and afternoon sessions and that expanded facilities would allow the center to service more students.
"Right now we're in a position where our classrooms are full," Westbrook said. "This is the entry point for our district and I would love for it to be a little beacon on a hill. It's the first contact people have with our district and we want it to be amazing. With all the services we offer, we would love a facility to match."
Westbrook said currently all three buildings are separate, which means anytime students leave the classroom and head to the gym or to the library, they have to first go outside.
"With little ones it's hard, there are things you wouldn't even think about," she continued. "It's the little things that make everything else flow so much better with the little ones."
Prospective locations to construct a new early childhood center include an addition to the Poplar Bluff Kindergarten Center, located off PP Highway, or a free-standing facility on the O'Neal Elementary School campus. Both locations have potential traffic concerns.
Committee members supported the proposition to relocate early childhood, as the idea has been looming since the kindergarten's construction in 2010, and the majority leaned toward the kindergarten center location.
Fourth grade teachers Treena Murray and Karmen Carson agreed the kindergarten center is the more sensible location, citing educational collaboration benefits between kindergarten and early childhood teachers, as well as stability for the district's youngest students.
"I think our community wants their neighborhood schools, they don't want their kids shipped around to a new location every year," Murray said. "But also the collaboration between the early childhood and kindergarten teachers is so valuable."
Carson said she will eventually have a student at early childhood and kindergarten simultaneously, and placing the new early childhood at the kindergarten center would allow her to make one stop in the mornings. She thinks most parents would appreciate the same convenience.
The proposed option for the remaining Mark Twain School building after the early childhood moves out is to transition the space into an alternative school. Currently the district utilizes a rundown facility on Maud Street to house roughly 40 at-risk high school students in what is referred to as the Graduation Center.
According to Superintendent Scott Dill, relocating the Graduation Center to the Mark Twain location would allow the district to provide improved facilities as well as the option to expand the program into a full-fledged alternative school. Dill said not all students fit into the traditional mold of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. classes and an enhanced alternative school would enable at-risk students and non-traditional learners to earn diplomas.
"Our graduation rate is 84 percent, which is a great number, unless you're one of the 16 percent," said Dill, who hopes to eliminate any stigma associated with non-traditional learning at Poplar Buff.
Board of Education President John Scott said he is in full support of addressing the early childhood center's needs and expanding the alternative school.
"I've been a strong proponent of the alternative school," Scott said. "It would benefit the entire district and take us to the next level in educating our kids."
Architect Ben Traxel of Dille and Traxel is in the process of putting together plans for the new and repurposed facilities as well as finding solutions for the potential traffic issues at all locations.
Dill said the improvements will not require additional funding from the public. Another meeting of the long range planning committee will occur in early August to further address the proposed options.