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Sunny to partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 96F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

A new set of blueprints sits on the board table at the Seymour R-II School District’s administration office.

There are more than 20 sets of plans, all related to the district’s second large-scale building project to be started in 2022 — this one the construction of a new district office, pre-school and kindergarten addition.

“When combined with the gym project we started earlier this year, we’re looking at $11 million to $11.5 million of new buildings for the district,” Superintendent Steve Richards noted. “In total, we’ll have more than 41,000 square feet in (new) buildings, which will leave the school in great shape for current needs and future growth.”

Best of all, almost every penny for the two projects is being provided by the federal government in the form of Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding provided in the American Rescue Plan. Seymour benefitted greatly from the ESSER I and ESSER II funding released to public schools over the past two years, Richards explained.

“I think the best way to explain it is that we’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “I also feel that our local school board has been very open minded and visionary, realizing that this funding was a one-time opportunity for us to take care of our building needs for the next half a century.”

Over the past year, Richards has updated the public on the gymnasium project, which now is in full swing.

Earlier this month, Springfield architect Jim Rutledge unveiled the plans for the new elementary addition, which have been reviewed by the seven-member Seymour R-II Board of Education.

The elementary project, built on the south side of East Clinton Avenue and adjacent to the current Seymour Elementary School building, will include 18,500 square feet.

There will be three main buildings.

One is a pre-school building that will include three classrooms, two offices, a room for the Parents As Teachers program and a work room for teachers.

The second is a kindergarten building that will replace modular classrooms used for the past decade. There will be four classrooms, four Title I classrooms and a therapy room for students needing special physical or speech therapy.

The third is an administration building, which replaces the current building next to the Seymour Community Library.

A former residential home, the facility is in dire need of replacement and will be demolished to make room for the new administrative offices.

Within the new administration facility, there will be a large 20-by-26-foot board room, several offices, a conference room and a records rooms.

Above that, there also will be a multipurpose room in the combined project, located within the pre-school and kindergarten buildings that will be used for a wide variety of student- related activities.

There also will be a separate playground for pre-school and kindergarten students.

Price tag for the elementary addition?

Richards said the rough estimate is between $4.5 and $5 million.

“I’m basing that cost off the gym project,” he explained. “The cost per square foot will be around the same price.”

Within the pre-school and kindergarten buildings, there are several special features.

One of them is specialized bathrooms.

“There are restrooms incorporated into each classroom,” Richards said. “For children of those ages, that’s a very good thing.”

Another unique part of the project will be a one-way street running north and south between East Center and East Clinton avenues, exclusively used to deliver and pick up students.

Over the remainder of the summer, the district will begin the process of gathering bids for the elementary addition, as was the case a few months ago for the new gym.

Greg Crawford Construction, a company based in Webster County in rural Marshfield, is the project manager for the elementary addition. The same company is the project manager for the new gym.

“I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about Greg Crawford Construction,” Richards concluded. “They understand how to build for schools and work for schools, and any project I’ve ever had with them has ended up better than expected.”

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