A construction project to add a new wing to Festus Middle School is scheduled to begin this month.
The Festus R-6 Board of Education voted 6-0 on Feb. 15 to award a $7,574,900 contract to Brockmiller Construction in Farmington to build the new wing and complete other renovations at the school, 1717 W. Main St. Brockmiller submitted the lowest of two bids for the project.
Jonathan Earnhart, the district’s assistant superintendent, said the new wing will be added to the south end of the school. The school’s multipurpose room and cafeteria, as well as some classrooms, will be renovated.
He said the existing building offers 69,807 square feet and the new wing will add 20,041 square feet. The new wing will contain nine classrooms, additional restrooms, a band room, a choral room, a multipurpose room and a cafeteria area. It will house the district’s entire sixth grade.
Festus R-6 Superintendent Nicki Ruess estimated that Brockmiller will begin the construction work late this month.
“Within the next few weeks the project should get underway. It will take approximately 18 months to build the new wing,” she said.
Doug Wendel, the board president, said the district’s increasing student enrollment requires more space.
“We just need classroom expansion because of a growing student population,” Wendel said.
Ruess said the district enrolls 3,456 students in preschool through 12th grade. As a comparison, the district’s enrollment in the 2014-2015 school year was 2,915 students.
“We are always monitoring enrollment trends. Over the course of the past few years, we have seen an average increase of approximately 100 students a year. While more students in the district is positive, it creates facilities concerns.”
The new Middle School wing eventually will house the district’s sixth grade students, who currently attend classes at Festus Intermediate School, 1501 Mid-Meadow Lane.
The Middle School’s current enrollment of seventh and eighth graders is 510, while the current sixth-grade enrollment at the Intermediate School is 241.
“Plans continue to progress and we are hopeful to begin classes in the new sixth-grade wing beginning August 2025,” Ruess said. “This will be Phase 1 of the expansion project. Once the construction gets underway, we will begin discussing, developing and designing Phase 2, which includes renovations at the Intermediate School.”
Earnhart said Phase 2 will be a renovation project at Festus Intermediate to get it ready to house the district’s third-grade students, who currently go to Festus Elementary School, 1500 Mid-Meadow Lane.
Ruess said the district is using funds from a 59-cent tax increase voters approved five years ago to pay for the Middle School classroom expansion project.
“Proposition F was passed in 2019 and allowed many enhancements across the district,” she said.