Owensville High School (OHS) SEEK students presented on April 20 possible configurations for the courtyards on campus as power lunch spaces. While the Gasconade County R-2 Board of Education did not take action at the May 18 meeting, they did discuss possibilities moving forward.

Board member Kari Nolting said she’d like to provide the students, Cohen Dare and Rylee Dare, with a response to their proposal, “What do we do with the courtyards at the high school?”

Board members questioned the $94,000 bid to concrete the courtyards. However, the students didn’t want both courtyards to be completely paved, despite the scope of the bid. They preferred a green space with picnic tables and landscaping.

“That (bid) was to pave the entire space,” said board member Jenni Crosby. “Where they kind of wanted more of a walkway. Do we ask that they explore other avenues other than concrete? Do we ask that they’re given the okay to start soliciting businesses or sponsors for the project?”

Nolting built on the idea of making the courtyard project available for community donations. Businesses and individuals could sponsor pieces or have their names on something.

“It may say ‘donated by’ with a business name if it’s concrete, or if it’s different picnic tables, or a different landscape of some sort inside those two spaces,” Nolting said. “We felt like we needed to either talk about it, give them an answer, or nix that, say ‘no, it’s not an option,’ so they know what to do over the summer.”

Nolting said she was for soliciting more bids tailored to what the students wanted.

“It’s been talked about for so many years what to do with those two spaces,” Nolting said.

Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy said the district would need to go out to bid if the board wants to explore the possibilities.

“The problem has always been maintenance of an interior space,” Nolting said. “How do you maintain grass, flowers and things through the hallways? But then, how do you get concrete into that space?”

Hardy said some districts will open specialized accounts for projects like the courtyards.

“If they could just get started, they could open a specialized account where the community or businesses can donate funds to that specific project,” Hardy said.

Board member Jason Crowe asked if they could give students some kind of “green light” now.

“Say, ‘hey, we like your idea. That’s great. Why don’t you get some fundraising going and see where it takes us? You manage within the budget,’” Crowe suggested.

Nolting said the district needs to know which option they want to go with so they can look at funding. Hardy said they could work on one courtyard at a time.

Nolting said she was okay with sending out a request for qualifications for the project to get an idea of the cost. She added that they should price the project with both courtyards and one at a time.

“It’s probably overall cheaper to do them together, to get the machinery and the equipment there at one time, but if we think, or they think, they can’t afford it, just have the bidders separate that out,” Nolting said. “I’m okay with them collecting donations. Are we okay with businesses putting a plaque out there or something to recognize who made donations to the project?”

Hardy reviewed the scope of the project proposal from Cohen Dare and Rylee Dare.

“We have the tables. Our horticulture class said they would be willing to work with them. Those are things that we already have on hand that they can start decorating with,” Hardy said. “Then it’s setting that up so it’s a usable space for kids during that power hour. Then I think once we get that set up, we need to look at how much, because even the kids, when they were here and presenting this, said, ‘well, we don’t need that much concrete.’ Maybe they design that space with what we do have, and then really see what do they need.”

She added that Maintenance Director Gary Pohlmann has some rip-rap.

“They might want to use those resources first and kind of get it set up, and then we have more concrete examples of what’s actually needed,” Hardy said.

Board members agreed they liked the idea and Hardy could respond with the information they discussed.