The Gasconade County R-2 Board of Education on Monday held its first Long-Range Facility Committee meeting since 2016, by invitation only, to discuss campus projects the district would benefit from over the next 10 years.

Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy introduced the group. In an email Tuesday, she further explained what the team is built to accomplish.

“The Longe-Range Facility Committee is an advisory committee of community stakeholders, the board of education, administrators, and retired teachers, who will support the school when planning for the future of our students and allow us to maintain a compass that promotes student achievement,” Hardy wrote. “The committee gathers every five to seven years to assess the needs of the district and to provide support during a bond issue and a voice for and to the community as to what improvements are being made.”

Members will provide advice and guidance on projects they feel are important and why those projects are needed. Each item will be presented to the board of education with a number indicating its priority.

The committee began by discussing projects completed since the 2016 no tax increase bond issue funds were distributed.

The administration had 11 items on the wish list. The only item listed as a priority was moving the administration building to the main campus. It was later determined that the project would be too expensive. Some of the remaining nine items listed as second priority included building updates that were completed: wallpaper, flooring, and lighting and windows replaced, better file storage and desk space, larger board room, and ADA compliant bathrooms.

In 2022, the board added relocating the parking lot and basketball court behind the administration building once Casey’s General Store begins development.

The bus barn had seven priorities listed in degrees of importance, of which six have been completed and one categorized as scheduled maintenance. 

Some of the items replaced included an intercom system, lighting for the parking lot, replacing old or non-working cameras with digital and adding a second camera for safety. Another project, expanding the warehouse storage space available at the bus barn, was approved in October 2021 but delayed due to a shortage of materials.

All four of the priorities to Dutchmen Stadium were completed, including upgrading electricity in the concession stand and improvements to the sound system.

At Gerald Elementary School (GES), 29 suggested improvements were made and 25 were completed. The remaining four items were deemed obsolete or unattainable.

A few GES projects that were completed included security doors, additional lighting, and recent updates to the HVAC units in the kitchen and office areas.

At Owensville Elementary School (OES), 10 items were listed to improve the building, of which eight were completed and two deemed cost-prohibitive.

A few OES projects completed included flooring replacements, fixing concrete deterioration at parent pick-up, and an additional sidewalk to the new playground.

At Owensville Middle School (OMS) 20 items were listed of which one remains incomplete.

Items completed included general maintenance, replaced basketball goals, and exterior concrete maintenance. Inadequate gym space was listed as a problem for the OMS gym and remains the only incomplete item on that list.

Owensville High School (OHS) is the oldest building within the district and listed 30 facility needs of which 24 have been completed.

A few items completed included lighting replaced in the large gym and small gym, a phone system added to classrooms, and an upgraded large gym sound system.

The six items that were not completed, such as a water treatment system for the kitchen, replacing the HVAC system in the kitchen, or replacing failing bleachers in the main gym were deemed too expensive. 

Although the district recently received a bid on the HVAC system in the OHS kitchen for $40,000, it has yet to determine if they will move forward with the project.

After discussing the completed projects from the 2016 bond, administrators opened up about the current needs of their buildings.

Hardy asked the committee to schedule two dates to complete tours of each of the buildings.

The group determined they would meet at 3:30 p.m. on April 4 at OHS, followed by a tour of OMS, and again at 3:30 on April 11 at GES followed by a tour of OES.