South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Until new Lindbergh elementary built, district to face ‘a compromising time’

Opening of new elementary will eliminate ‘growth pains’

While construction of a new elementary school set to open in August 2017 will alleviate Lindbergh Schools’ booming enrollment growth, the next 36 months “will be a compromising time” for the school district, according to Superintendent Jim Simpson.

Lindbergh’s enrollment growth has been far stronger than district officials had anticipated, Simpson told the Call.

“… The size of the growth is much higher than we expected,” he said. “We were looking at growth at about 100 to 150 (students) a year, and now we’re at the 250 range. So it’s a different speed of growth, rate of growth, and so that somewhat has us hinking in new directions …”

Official numbers show Lindbergh’s enrollment increased by 248 students this September compared to September 2013.

District enrollment has increased by 667 students over the past five years.

To deal with the increasing enrollment until the new 650-student elementary school is constructed, district officials established a three-year plan that began with the current school year.

For the current year, provisions of the plan included converting two large kindergarten classrooms at Sappington Elementary into three kindergarten rooms and converting part of the Long Elementary library into a “pull-out” classroom for seven or eight students.

For next year, Simpson said, “That is a very compromising plan — compromising in terms of it’s like all things: If you don’t have the tools to meet the challenge, then it’s compromising because you’re going to have to sort of jerry-rig it. So next year’s plan is we take existing useful and productive areas of our buildings and we prioritize, and some of those will disappear, some of those will be moved out because the priority is core classrooms.”

An example of that type of space would be eliminating teacher work rooms, he said.

“You say, ‘Well, how’s a building operate without a workroom?’ We’re going to find out,” Simpson said.

For the 2016-2017 school year, the district will face even more challenges.

“(For) the third year, it’s even more compromising and more unpleasant in that you’ll have to take existing programs that have excellent facilities — things like art and music, libraries — and you’ll have to move core classrooms into some of those,” he said.

“It’s extremely painful and not what we’re after. And yet, we’ve been keeping up this growth. We’ve been running at full speed,” Simpson said, citing voter approval of the Proposition R 2008 and Proposition G bond issues.

District voters approved Prop R 2008, a $31 million bond issue, in November 2008. Funds were used to convert Truman Elementary School to a sixth- through eighth-grade middle school, add onto Crestwood and Long elementary schools, convert Concord School to an elementary school and construct a new Early Childhood Education building.

Of Prop R 2008, the superintendent said, “We built lots of new classrooms and quickly filled them up.”

District voters approved Prop G — for Growth — a $34 million bond issue, in April. Nearly $24 million from Prop G will be used to construct the new elementary school on the nearly 10-acre Dressel School site at 10255 Musick Road. Proceeds from the bond issue also will fund critical needs at Lindbergh High School.

“The next 36 months will be a compromising time for Lindbergh as we wait for the big relief valve, which is the new Dressel building, to open. The good news, the fun aspect of that, when we cut the ribbon on the new Dressel (building), a lot of pain, growth pains, will be eliminated for some time in the other elementaries.”

But district projections indicate the enrollment growth will continue.

“Our projections show we will grow aggressively for the next two decades. So there are some challenges ahead. The high school has a huge growth population headed its way,” he said.

The reason why high school enrollment is not growing as fast as elementary enrollment, Simpson said, is because “the families that are moving into our district have young children. Our biggest growth grades are K (kindergarten), one, two and three … We’re filling those up, putting hundreds of more students into those grades. Just count the number of years and they’ll hit middle (school). Then they’ll hit high (school).

“So the high school will go to 3,000 students fairly rapidly once that bubble hits them. After that, we’ll have to see how things play out because now you’re talking about growth trends within the next five years. Are we going to continue in the 200 range? And if that’s true, then they’ll exceed the 3,000. Or is it going to drop back into the 150s? But that’s our range — 150 to 250 …”

The enrollment growth is a sign of a thriving community. As a result, the good news for residents without children in the district is that quality young families are very aggressively buying homes.

“… They’re paying top dollar. Homes sit on the market a very short time if they’re reasonably priced,” Simpson said. “It means our businesses are having an economic wind at their back because, as we all know, young families with children to take care of, that’s their spending years, and they shop local … That makes our community stronger. It makes our community younger …

“That harkens to a much brighter future for quality of life in our school district. So I like the fact that Lindbergh Schools plays an amazing role of rejuvenation and maintaining high quality-of-life standards in our area for the economic side of the equation and the education side of the equation …”

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