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.