PB R-I cuts ribbon on Early Childhood Center new beginnings

The culmination of eight years of work reached a milestone Wednesday morning with a ribbon cutting for the Poplar Bluff R-I Early Childhood Center.

This facility, on Camp Road near Kanell Boulevard, will be open for the first day of school Aug. 24.

It is the first building customized with the early childhood age group in mind. . It connects to the kindergarten center, which Dr. Scott Dill, superintendent, said will make for an easier transition as students move up.

The early childhood center takes up 34,000 square feet.

The original contract for the project was $5,959,900 and the district budgeted $6,045921.50. The project came in $73,307.04 under the district budget and came in under the original contract amount by $57,758.00, said Dr. Amy Jackson, assistant superintendent.

All money used for the project came out of reserves.

“We are very pleased that our early childhood finally has their forever home,” Dill said.

The early childhood center and modifications to the Mark Twain school for it to become an alternative school campus signify the end of Phase II for the district’s plan to upgrade facilities. The Mark Twain school, on Main Street, has been used for Early Childhood in recent years.

These plans started in 2012, when the district formed a committee to identify what needed done. Two years later, voters approved a bond issue to help supply funds for the work.

Phase I of the project included work in the pre-existing campuses.

“We did not think that we could do that under the phase one tax increase,” said Chris Hon, superintendent from 2010-2016. “I left in 2016, and Dr. Dill and Mr. Priest ... were able to actually use the same money from Phase I to complete Phase II also, and I never thought that would happen. I’m so proud of them and what they’ve done.”

Hon and Dill said they think the facility will work well for early childhood students as it was designed with them in mind and from teacher input about what’s needed.

The facility includes a library, a multipurpose room — which matches the Federal Emergency Management Agency standards to serve as a safe room in case of severe weather— and14 classrooms, along with a lobby connecting to offices and a nursing station.

Administration will need to let any visitors in through the main office if they’re going into the school.