COLUMBIA − A new elementary school is coming to southwest Columbia to accommodate the growth of students in Columbia Public Schools.
Spanning back nearly a decade, Columbia Public Schools began to see growth that would require the district to open additional space for capacity. The School Board decided to begin a planning process to increase the capacity for students in the district.
An $80 million bond issue was approved by voters in April 2022 to fund construction of the school.
Columbia Public Schools population over the last 12 years
Southwest Elementary is at the tail end of an initiative to remove trailers at schools, according to Blake Willoughby, a member of the School Board and its Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee.
“Building the new elementary [school] is one of the final pieces of ‘virtual zero trailers,'” Willoughby said. “What that means is that we are utilizing zero to five trailers at any of our schools.”
Southwest Elementary’s construction has been in the district’s plans since the beginning. When a master plan was made in the early 2010s to begin removing the trailers, the board knew elementary school space would be a necessary addition. Willoughby said the land that was purchased for John Warner Middle School had space to build another school.
“When we purchased that land, it was kind of known that an elementary school would go there,” he said.
Randy Gooch, chief operations officer for the school district, said past evaluations of Columbia’s demographics projected growth in the southwest area of the city.
“We knew we needed middle school space so we built John Warner,” Gooch said. “But we also knew, working with our consultant, based on the trends of our growth, we would need elementary space in southwest Columbia, and it turned out that way.”
Columbia Public Schools hosted an open house in September to give the public an opportunity to share feedback on designs for Southwest Elementary.
Southwest Elementary is not slated to open and be utilized until 2026.
Because of labor shortages due to COVID-19, Gooch said the district didn’t want to promise a date they couldn’t deliver on, and with upcoming boundary changes, delaying the construction would give the community plenty of time to prepare.
District spokesperson Michelle Baumstark said in an email that the School Board considers the following general principles when it comes to redistricting:
- Attendance areas do change and will continue to change. This work is part of a regular review of district enrollment patterns.
- The attendance area should anticipate future growth of neighborhoods. A walkable and bikeable school is important, but may not always be possible.
- The attendance area seeks to reflect the composition of the Columbia Public Schools community.
- The board recognizes the power of a school to create community. Accessibility for families is important (volunteering and attending school functions are easier when the school is near).
- Consider time students spend on a bus and distance traveled to and from school.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
The last time elementary attendance areas experienced an adjustment was with the opening of the Rock Bridge Elementary School addition in 2019.
A three-phase plan for adjustments was announced at that time:
- Russell Boulevard addition opening – slated to be reviewed by the School Board in April 2024
- New elementary school opening next to John Warner in south Columbia
- Eliot Battle addition opening
The third phase of the plan was delayed due to COVID and construction delays at Russell Boulevard Elementary School.
Because it has now been several years since those changes were last reviewed, the Board will review the third phase of the original plan in early 2024.
Last month, Columbia Public Schools hired Cooperative Strategies, which looks at the demographics and population growth of Columbia to develop new attendance areas. Gooch said Cooperative Strategies’ previous work within the district will help the process be smoother.
Columbia Public Schools hosted an open house in September to give the public an opportunity to share feedback on designs for Southwest Elementary.
Both Willoughby and Gooch said redistricting is not a process the district is taking lightly and understand how difficult it can be on kids.
“It’s hard. Redistricting is really difficult and changing schools is one of the hardest things for kids,” Willoughby said. “But this process shows that we live in a very vibrant community that is growing fast.”
Willoughby said everyone has a chance to move schools, even if they moved during the redistricting changes in 2019.
He said it is important families understand what could happen during this process and how it works.
“You can only move once within the three-phase plan. So if you move during phase one, you will not be moved again,” he said. “However, it is not accurate to say that if you moved during the last redistricting alignment, that you won’t move this time.”
Willoughby went on to say this process, although it is difficult, is for the benefit of the district.
“The overall goal is to make sure we have the highest quality educational opportunities for all of our kids,” he said.