JOPLIN, Mo. — Architects for the new Irving Elementary on Thursday night showcased features of the proposed school, answered questions and took suggestions.

Jim Stufflebeam, vice president of Sapp Design Associates Architects based in Springfield, gave a presentation to about 30 parents, students and school employees at the district’s administrative offices.

The elementary school will be built on land that was part of the site of St. John’s Regional Medical Center, which also was destroyed by the May 22 tornado.

School district officials say the site is being tested for undermining to ensure its stability. The presentation showed the proposed school site and where surrounding mine shafts are located. Based on the initial findings, there are no shafts directly underneath where the school will be built, Stufflebeam said.

Stufflebeam said his firm is in the design phase and will start detailed drawings soon. The plan is for bid specifications on the project to go out in May or June, and for construction to start this summer. If that timeline is kept, pending funding and a $62 million bond issue on the April election ballot, the school could be ready for students by August 2013.

“(My children) are very excited about the new Irving, and we’re hoping everything goes according to plan and they open in 2013,” said parent Jamie Piper. “I think the new plan is great and that it appeals to the students, which will keep them interested in school.

“Irving has worked very hard for these proposals and these plans, and I’m very excited. My kids stating that they wanted color was important to me, and I think it’s important that they recognize the kids’ needs as well as the faculty and staff’s needs.”

Piper’s daughter, Riley, added: “One of my favorite things was the big learning and living room center. I really loved a lot of the colors that were shown.”

Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer told the group that the school district does not anticipate that a lot of students will walk to the new school because of its location. She said the district is talking with the city about lane widening on McClelland Boulevard.

The school’s gymnasium would serve as a community storm shelter and would be built to withstand an EF-5 tornado, Stufflebeam said.

“The storm shelters were my favorite part, knowing that my kids will have peace of mind,” said Robin Foglesong, who will have a kindergartner and a third-grader at the school in 2013 if it is completed as scheduled.

Another storm shelter will be next to the gym, where special-education classrooms are planned. Irving Principal Debbie Ford said not having to move the special-education students to another location during a drill or warning will be helpful.

The old Irving School, which was built in 1927 and destroyed in the tornado, was demolished in December. The new building will hold students from the old Irving and Emerson elementaries, with a capacity of up to 600 students. Irving students currently are attending classes at the old Washington Education Center building.

“I think the school will adequately house them,” Foglesong said. “I would not like it to get any bigger. Irving is a small school now. I’ll have two kids going there so I definitely don’t want my kids to get lost when they get there.”

Additionally, the site will be developed in two phases, with two buildings that house temporary clinics that will stay on the location for another two years. After those are removed, additional green space, playgrounds and fields will be added for the school. The school will have a kindergarten and first-grade wing, a second- and third-grade wing, and an upstairs fourth- and fifth-grade wing.

At the end of the presentation, boards with the designs were available for people to post sticky notes with comments or suggestions.





Emerson site



ANGIE BESENDORFER, assistant superintendent, noted Thursday night that plans for the Emerson site have been tabled for now. It may become the future location of an early childhood center operated by the school district, she said.