Planning is underway for Prop S, Pattonville’s $111 million no-tax-rate-increase bond issue, and construction on some projects is expected to begin at the end of this school year. Prop S passed with a 79.4% favorable vote on the April 5 election ballot and funds projects at every school in Pattonville, including adding classrooms to address growth in student enrollment; providing safety and maintenance improvements; and updating school facilities to meet teaching and learning needs. Prop S will not increase the district's tax rate.
On May 11, the Pattonville Board of Education awarded the first round of bids to begin Prop S work. S.M. Wilson & Company was selected as the construction manager and Cordogan Clark, formally Ittner Cordogan Clark, was selected to provide architectural services. Pattonville worked with both companies in past bond issues, including Prop K that was passed by voters in 2017. Cordogan Clark was also involved in helping Pattonville develop its facilities master plan leading to Prop S.
Prop S work will be broken into three phases and projects for each phase will take about a year and half to complete. Each phase includes three stages — design, bidding and construction. During the design stage, district administrators and Cordogan Clark representatives work with building staff on projects at that location. Once complete, projects will be sent out for bid for construction work. Currently, Pattonville is in the final design stage and beginning the bid stage of phase one.
In the past decade, district enrollment has grown by nearly 10% and future enrollment projections indicate the district may need additional capacity for approximately 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. As shared this spring, school additions to help with student growth is the focus of the first phase. Also included in the first phase are projects that impact work at other buildings.
Projects in phase one are building additions and improvements at Bridgeway, Parkwood and Willow Brook elementary schools and construction of the new gym and improvements to the main gym at Holman Middle School. Nationally, building code requires that educational facilities with more than 50 occupants must have a safe room to protect students and staff from tornado hazards and thus, the additions at these locations will be storm shelters and have enough space for all students and staff. Construction on these additions is expected to begin in June 2023 with building of exterior framework so work can continue throughout the year and during inclement weather conditions. Projects are projected to be completed by the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.
Phase two includes projects at the Pattonville Early Childhood Center, Drummond and Rose Acres elementary schools and Holman and Pattonville Heights middle schools as well as select projects at Pattonville High School. Additional work will occur to transform Holman’s Gym B for use by the Pattonville printing and transportation departments and to make improvements to the maintenance building. Following completion of this work, the current printing building will be demolished to create additional parking at Pattonville Heights.
Phase three includes projects at Remington Traditional School and remaining projects at the high school. Due to increased construction costs and projected costs for projects, some items from the original districtwide facilities master plan, such renovating classrooms for collaborative teaching, will be completed using district operating funds or added to a future bond issue.
To see a current timeline of phases and a breakdown of the projects in each phase, see the image below. To learn more about Prop S and see updates about bond projects, visit https://bit.ly/PattonvillePropS.
