By Mike Anthony
Executive Editor
news1@callnewspapers.com

Construction of Lindbergh Schools’ new Central Office building is nearing completion, according to Superintendent Jim Simpson.
The two-story, 24,000-square-foot building is being constructed on a 2.2-acre site at 11555 Gravois Road, the location of the former Johnny’s Market.
The Board of Education voted in September 2016 to approve the low bid of $6,561,000 submitted by Wachter Inc. for construction of the building.
“We’re trying to move in prior to Christmas,” Simpson told the Call. “Its completion time is about Christmas, and so the question is: Is it going to be a couple of weeks before Christmas we move in or a couple weeks after Christmas? We’ll be in that building by the first of the year.”
District officials closed on the roughly $1.66 million purchase of the former Johnny’s Market site in January 2016.
The district’s Central Office currently is housed at Lindbergh High School, and occupies roughly 20,000 square feet there.
Central Office has 12 departments and roughly 50 employees overseeing such district-level programs as technology, facilities, curriculum, finance and human resources.
Once construction of the Central Office building is complete, work can begin to restore roughly 10 classrooms at the high school to address the surging enrollment the district is facing.
Planning is underway already for the “modest modifications” to make the space ready for students, Simpson said.
“It’s going to be pretty nice to have the high school with 20,000 square feet more — 10 more classrooms — and boy, do they need it,” he said. “And then we’ve got a Central Office now ready for another 100 years …”