Officials show off new Southern Boone Middle School expansion, renovation

ASHLAND — School officials on Thursday showed off a new $7.7 million expansion of the Southern Boone Middle School that interim Superintendent Tim Roth said has "wow factor."

Voters approved the bond issue for the expansion in April 2021.

Roth said the "wow factor" happens when parents come into the building with their children to show them where they used to attend school and marvel with them about what has been added and that it's under one roof, so students no longer have to walk between buildings to get to classes.

Parents previously had an open house, Roth said. Students have been in the building since the start of school.

The project adds 28,000 square feet of space in a new addition connecting two existing buildings. There are 12 classrooms in the addition. For the first time this year, the middle school includes students in grades 5-8, with fifth- and sixth-graders in one wing of the building and seventh- and eighth-graders in another wing on the opposite side of the building. The middle school has an enrollment of close to 650.

The school district has been growing rapidly, this year surpassing an enrollment of 2,000 for the first time, said district spokesman Matt Sharp.

There's an art room, which the high school also uses, said Principal Justin Griffith.

"Our art teacher, she told us you can't have too much storage and you can't have too many sinks," so it has plenty of both, he said.

There are four science classroom-lab combinations.

There's a classroom for family and consumer sciences, outfitted with kitchen equipment and sewing machines.

"This was the most requested class in the middle school," Griffith said of family and consumer sciences.

There's a wood shop for middle schoolers. The addition allows students to do more college and career discovery at a younger age, Griffith said.

"It allowed us to expand on a lot of our exploratory offerings," Griffith said.

The offices are at the entrance. There's a secure vestibule that requires visitors to be allowed in from the office.

"In the old building, we didn't have staff bathrooms," Griffith said. "Now we have four or five."

Signage acknowledges the Ashland Consolidated School that used to be on the school's footprint. There's also a sign for "Ashland Public School and Bass-Johnston Academy 1903." It's recognition of the school district's history, said district spokesman Matt Sharp.

Julie O'Reilly-Chapman, the middle school media specialist, has been with the district for 17 years and said she loves the new centrally-located media center.

"I used to be tacked on to the end of the building as an afterthought," she said.

The addition also received high marks from district gifted resource teacher Justine Rogers, who's been with the district for 21 years.

"It's a wonderful benefit to not have students traveling outside between buildings," Rogers said. "It's much better for safety."

The family and consumer sciences, science labs, art and wood shop classrooms are other benefits, she said.

School officials put a lot of thought into the building, she said.

"They're planning ahead rather than being reactive," Rogers said.

Among those on Thursday's tour was former Superintendent Chris Felmlee, under whose leadership the bond issue was approved

After a tour, community member Melinda Elmore offered her positive assessment. Her son graduated from Southern Boone High School in 2010.

"I think it's absolutely beautiful and I think our tax dollars were spent well," Elmore said.

The new addition offers students so many opportunities in areas including science and art and provides them with a good education, she said.

"That's why we keep passing bond issues," Elmore said.

Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: School officials show off new addition at Southern Boone Middle School