The new Student Services and Counseling Center at Festus High School has been completed, so now the Festus R-6 School District is moving ahead with another major construction project – reconfiguring the student drop-off and pick-up areas at Festus Elementary School.
The high school’s old band room was renovated and converted into the space that now houses the Student Services and Counseling Center, which opened Feb. 10.
That project cost $490,000. The district used regular capital funds – not funds tied to any ballot measure – to pay Brockmiller Construction in Farmington to complete the renovation project.
As part of the next big project, the Festus Board of Education voted unanimously Feb. 20 to award a $734,690 contract to Jokerst Paving in Festus to reconfigure the drop-off and pick-up areas at Festus Elementary. Jokerst submitted the lowest of three bids for the project.
No construction start date has been given for the Festus Elementary project, but it is expected to be complete before the start of the next school year.
That project will be covered with funds from Proposition F, a 59-cent tax increase voters approved in April 2019.
New center at high school
The new Student Services and Counseling Center at the high school, 501 Westwind Drive, includes 3,024 square feet of space, while the old one had 763 square feet.
Festus High counselors say the additional space is already paying dividends.
“The needs of our counseling department (three counselors and an administrative assistant) have continued to grow,” Principal Karl Shininger said. “Our partnerships with outside agencies, like Comtrea and St. Louis Counseling, have grown.”
He said the counselors’ old offices could only hold a few people at a time, but their new offices can accommodate “five or six at a time.”
“They also have conference rooms where a number of people can meet,” Shininger said. “Another perk is outside agencies can use these conference rooms. They had been out around the school (when seeking space to meet with students).”
Counselor Steve Shemwell said the new work space is making a difference both for him and the students he advises, and sometimes their families.
“I’ve been here 24 years and this is my fourth office,” Shemwell said. “I can get an entire large family in my new office for a consultation. Before, with three people in my office, we could hardly function. If I needed to go outside my office to retrieve a piece of paper I’d printed, two people would have to step out to let me out.”
Counselor Jennifer Kline also said the new center is a big improvement.
“We now have a space for college representatives and military representatives to see interested students,” she said. “We also have space for small group counseling, which we have not had before.”
Festus Elementary
improvements
The district is reconfiguring the drop-off and pick-up areas at the elementary school, 1515 Mid-Meadow Lane, to address traffic congestion there in the mornings and afternoons.
Kevin Pope, the district’s coordinator of communications and special projects, said the student drop-off-pick-up area will be moved from the front of the elementary to behind it.
“At the elementary, people who now pick up or drop off their kids are required to park and enter the building and get their kids in the gymnasium,” Pope said. “Buses use the back. There’s a grass area next to Festus Middle School. That will be replaced with a bus pick-up and drop-off area.
“The intersection of Mid-Meadow and the back of the elementary (on the building’s west side) will be reconfigured to make it easier for the buses to turn onto Mid-Meadow.”
Pope said the project is expected to be complete before Aug. 24, the tentative start date for next school year.
He said the board has not yet approved the 2020-2021 school year calendar, but that vote is expected March 19.
While that project is underway, a new playground will be built at the elementary school.
“The elementary playground is old,” Pope said. “We want (the project) also to be done by the start of school.”
The playground will cost $238,094, bringing the cost of the two improvement projects at Festus Elementary to $972,784, with all the funds coming from revenue generated by Prop F.
The construction contract for the new playground project went to Hutchinson Recreation & Design of St. Louis. The company got the contract as part of a cooperative purchase through the Education Plus nonprofit collaborative organization.
Performing arts
center update
An even bigger project to be funded with Prop F revenue is in the development stages – building a performing arts center, Pope said.
“The performing arts center is being planned to have 750 seats,” he said. “The board has set a budget of $14 million for the performing arts center (project).”
It will be built next to the high school annex, which houses the building’s new band room.
ArchImages, the district’s architect, is designing the structure.