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Below the overview of the district are links to KBIA's coverage of Columbia 93 district schools, updated as more stories are published. Columbia 93 at a glanceThe Columbia 93 school district currently includes 32 different schools. In 2014, the district had a k-12 enrollment of 17,204 students, which is 2% of the total k-12 enrollment for the state. Enrollment has been slightly increasing in recent years, 2% since 2011. While a small percent, that amounts to almost 400 more students. There have also been major re-drawing of attendance areas with the addition of Battle High School. Middle school attendance areas shape high school boundaries 00000178-cc7d-da8b-a77d-ec7d2f9e0000The changes have affected all schools in the district, including causing high school attendance to increase and overcrowding at one middle school at least.

Shepard Boulevard Elementary gets Makeover

Abby Coursen
/
KBIA

On Thursday night Columbia Public Schools hosted a dedication that coincided with a series of expansions to the Columbia Public School District.

Administrators, faculty and students gathered at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new wing at Shepard Boulevard Elementary School.

Columbia Public Schools spokesperson Michelle Baumstark said the two story addition was funded by a 2012 bond and cost approximately 5.2 million dollars.

“We have a long range plan for our school district, and included in that plan is the promise to our community to eliminate trailers in our school district as well as to continue to address our existing growth and our continued growth in the future,” Baumstark said. 

Candy Hamilton, a fifth grade teacher at Shepard Boulevard Elementary, said she feels the building addition will have an impact on students’ learning.

“The biggest change is being able to be so close to everything, to the bathroom to the libraries to the media center, so we save a lot of time in the academic areas,” Hamilton said.

Jeffrey Painter, a fifth grader at Shepard Boulevard, said he couldn’t believe it when he saw the new additions to the school.

“My eyes got big and the room was huge compared to the trailers,” Painter said.

Prior to the addition at Shepard Boulevard Elementary, the school was using 13 trailers as classrooms, some of which housed two classes in one trailer.

Baumstark said the district is currently working on the development of many more buildings to ensure they are prepared for future growth, including construction at Beulah Ralph Elementary School and a building addition at West Boulevard Elementary School.

The school district is also finalizing plans to build an elementary school in East Columbia that has not yet been named.

This addition at Shepard Boulevard will house 18 new classrooms, a new computer lab, teacher work rooms, an elevator, an English language learners (ELL) classroom and student and faculty restrooms.