Columbia school officials mark start of work on future southwest elementary school
Columbia Public Schools officials and other dignitaries on Friday marked the symbolic start of construction of a new elementary school, north of John Warner Middle School.
The two-story, 76,500-square-foot building is scheduled to open in August 2026. It will have a capacity for 750 students.
Reinhardt Wilson, hired by the school district as the construction manager at risk, has placed a guaranteed maximum price of $35,248,034.
It will feature core learning classrooms with collaborative spaces and flex learning spaces designed to inspire student engagement.
It's an important component of fulfilling the school district mission of providing a high-quality education to all students, said Superintendent Brian Yearwood.
Yearwood also thanked the John Warner Middle School community for enduring construction equipment and a school "in your back yard."
A bond issue in 2018 purchased the land for the school and a 2022 bond issue paid to build the school, said school board President Suzette Waters.
"We are grateful for the support of our community, now more than ever," Waters said. "We thank you for continuing to invest in our schools."
The school board is determining boundaries for the school when it opens in August 2026. It will also adjust other elementary, middle school and high school boundaries in the process. That will be phase three of the boundary plan. Phase two will include changes related to an addition at Battle Elementary School in August 2025.
The school board on Wednesday approved boundary changes related to a new addition at Russell Boulevard Elementary School, but chose not to have it start until August 2025.
Information sessions for phases two and three take place May 7-9. On May 7, the sessions will be at the administration building, 1818 Worley St., from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and at Hickman High School from 4 to 7 p.m. The May 8 sessions will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the administration building and from 4 to 7 p.m. at Rock Bridge High School. On May 9, the open house takes place from 1 to 3 p.m. at the administration building and 4 to 7 p.m. at Battle High School.
School officials refer to the future new elementary school as the southwest elementary school because it doesn't have a name yet.
The naming procedure hasn't begun, but the League of Women Voters of Columbia-Boone County is lobbying for the school to be named for local suffragist Luella St. Clair Moss, who also was a school board member and first woman president of Christian Female College, later Columbia College.
The school board may take up naming the school in the fall, after attendance areas are decided, said Columbia Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark, at the event.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on X at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia Public Schools starts construction on new elementary school
