SG R-II Connection

Good afternoon, SG families,

As we wrap up our first full week back from Spring Break, I want to take a moment to reflect on what it means to be part of a strong, connected community.

A few weeks ago, our neighbors at Perry County School District 32 suffered significant damage to their campus. In the weeks since, they’ve been steadily adapting and adjusting. As they continue that work, I encourage you to keep their students, staff, and families in your thoughts.

In the spirit of support and compassion, our staff and students came together with an idea to help. High school students designed and sold T-shirts, with all proceeds going to support Perryville as they continue to recover.

Moments like this remind us of the importance of checking in on one another, of being good neighbors and friends. When times are hard, it’s the relationships you’ve built that carry you through.

At the end of the day, when uncertainty finds its way to your doorstep, it won’t be the systems or schedules that carry you—it’ll be the people. Strong communities don’t just happen—they’re built, day by day, through acts of kindness, care, and connection. And I’m proud to be part of one that shows up when it matters.

Dr. Paul Taylor

Superintendent

At the March 18, 2025 Regular Board of Education meeting, Romy Uelk, President and Principal in Charge of Programming for KRJ Architecture, and Colin Rogers, President of Project Management for Brockmiller Construction & Construction Manager At Risk (CMAR), co-presented an update to the Board of Education regarding Prop SG. This included an overview of the facility projects, design plans and current timelines and cost estimates. The project areas discussed are below:

Early Childhood Center:

• The new Early Childhood Center is located at 1200 Maple Drive in Ste. Genevieve— at the intersection of Maple Drive and Virginia Street.
• The new building consists of 10 classrooms for preschool and Early Childhood Special Education students; spaces for Parents as Teachers, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy; a kitchen, a multipurpose room, a sensory room, a nurse’s office; and more.
• The punch list for the Early Childhood Center has been completed, and final touches are being made on the building.
• Asphalt is slated to begin next week, with concrete to follow.
• Playground equipment will be delivered toward the end of the month, and furniture selections have been made for the entire building.
• The district has received many questions regarding the possibility of extending Maple Drive out to intersect with Highway 61 and installing a stoplight at the junction. The field is owned by MLC (previously Mississippi Lime), and this endeavor would necessitate a partnership that included Mississippi Lime, the county, the city, the school district, the Special Road District, Citizens Electric and MoDOT. Dr. Taylor shared that the district is onboard with this project and would love to sit down with all of the entities involved to discuss this possibility, as it would benefit so many in the area.
• The new center is scheduled to open for the 2025-2026 school year, and is now taking preschool applications for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year. See tuition rates here. Click here to apply.

Ste. Genevieve Elementary:

• The Ste. Genevieve Elementary addition includes a new gym and an on-grade, ADA-accessible entrance with offices.
• Construction crews continue progress on the Ste. Genevieve Elementary addition. The brick is about 70 percent complete, and crews are taping and painting the office addition. The gymnasium has been painted, and athletic equipment for the gym should be arriving toward the end of the month.
• Windows have been installed in the new gymnasium.
• The old gymnasium will now be converted into two classrooms and one smaller room over the summer. (A previous plan had the library transitioning to the old gymnasium, but it was determined by library staff and district administrators that the current library space works well, and it would be more cost efficient to keep it where it is and transition the old gym into classrooms instead.)
• This project is anticipated to be completed sometime mid-summer.

Wrestling Facility:

• Over the past few months, district administration has shared updates on the upcoming wrestling and athletic facility. We did not have many options in terms of a location for this facility, and it had been decided that it could be located at the end of the football field. However, a review of the recent drilling reports and an onsite evaluation of the area revealed the presence of a sinkhole and cave or cave system located directly adjacent to or beneath this site. The location of the sinkhole can be seen here.
• Brockmiller Construction, as well as KRJ Architects and Taylor Engineering, further investigated to determine how the sinkhole impacts the area around it and how much it might affect the decided-upon location of the facility. The decision was made to:
1. pause the full athletic facility project until a large-enough alternative location could be identified for an indoor turf portion; and
2. construct a wrestling facility behind the Performing Arts Center.
• The floor plan for the wrestling facility can be seen here, and includes a practice wrestling area, office and storage space, locker rooms and restrooms, and a golf simulation room, as well.
• Dr. Taylor stressed that this was not where we had hoped to be at this stage, but we will have a wrestling facility constructed.
1. The original plan was to build a high school practice gymnasium with a wrestling facility, which would be located adjacent to the current SGHS gym. However, the cost of this project kept climbing, as the gymnasium would have had a suspended concrete floor and presented some significant sitework challenges with increased costs (some of which include moving a water main which would require a permit from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), updating the location of electrical poles and associated lines, and the addition of a sewage injector).
2. At that point, we transitioned to building a wrestling facility in another location on campus, with the possibility of upgrading this to an athletic facility that included an indoor turf area. With this plan, we had a location picked out, and the plans were on track— before the sinkhole was discovered. This plan is no longer feasible, as we are not comfortable building in that area. While an athletic facility is not off of the table, until we find a good site for it, we will have to put it on hold.
3. However, the wrestling facility was originally identified as a priority of Prop SG, and we have what we believe is a good site plan behind the PAC for this facility. Taylor Engineering is working on surveying the site to identify the most optimal location. (With this shift in plans, the track areas will also be able to remain where they are.)
• In addition, we still plan to renovate the current wrestling room and weight room, which will provide additional space and updated weight equipment to better support our student-athletes, as well as a locker room for visiting teams.

Preliminary Timeline:

• Romy and Colin then presented the current project timeline schedule. It is important to note that these timeframes shift as the projects progress.
• The Ste. Genevieve Elementary addition is slated to be finished mid-summer, when crews will hit the ground running on breaking ground on the wrestling facility.

Current Cost Estimates:

• Throughout the Prop SG process, the district’s priority has been to both invest and spend the bond monies wisely in order to gain the most from our taxpayer dollars for these building projects. To date, the district has *earned more than $2,869,092.15 from the sale of the $20 million bonds, as well as interest on those monies, which can also be utilized for the Prop SG projects. In addition, through value engineering and cost-saving measures, along with the expertise of our Construction Manager At-Risk (CMAR) and architects, the district has identified approximately $368,884 in savings across the first four projects.
• Change orders and value engineering have contributed to these savings, particularly on the Bloomsdale Elementary and Ste. Genevieve Middle School projects. The Bloomsdale Elementary project came in about $46,750 under budget, while the Ste. Genevieve Middle School project came in about $105,900 under budget.
• The value engineering process allows contractors to identify areas where costs can be reduced without sacrificing quality. Additionally, contingency funds are built into project estimates to account for potential change orders due to unforeseen construction costs.
• From a budget standpoint, Prop SG projects have run efficiently. A key factor in this success has been the ability to attract reputable local contractors through the CMAR process. This approach has provided significant benefits—working with local contractors has made collaboration easier and streamlined communication, ensuring a smoother construction process.
• Shifting focus away from the athletic facility for now has also allowed the district to reallocate some funds to other important improvements. This includes investing in field lighting updates for both the downtown ball fields and the football field, as well as putting more funding toward converting existing wrestling space to an updated weight room and current weight room to another away location for away teams.
• The current cost estimates include not only construction and design fees, but also ancillary costs such as soils investigation, furniture budgets, sewer work, asbestos abatement, land purchases, and more. To this point, there have not been any major unexpected costs.
• Below is an overview of the current budget and approximate ongoing cost estimates for the Prop SG projects:
• Bloomsdale Elementary Project: $836,794 (Completed)
• Ste. Genevieve Middle School Project: $1,718,346 (Completed)
• Early Childhood Center: $9,876,854 (Projected Cost)
• Ste. Genevieve Elementary Project: $5,454,512 (Projected Cost)
• Wrestling Facility: $3,471,982 (Projected Cost — Based On Design)
• Field Lighting (Football Field & Ball Fields): $1,200,000
• SGE Current Gymnasium Renovation: TBD
• Current Wrestling & Weight Room Renovations: TBD
• Projected Total of the Above Projects: *$22,558,488

Families, if you missed the Kindergarten Registration & screening event for your child, please call 573-883-4500 and your elementary office extension to enroll your child for the 2025-2026 school year: SGE ext. 3, BLE ext. 4. Children age 5 prior to Aug. 1, 2025 are kindergarten eligible.

The new Early Childhood Center will be open for the 2025-2026 school year. We are now taking preschool applications for next school year. See Tuition Rates here. Click here to apply.

The Board approved the revised 2024-2025 District Calendar, adjusting the schedule to address the impact of missed snow days. The last day of school for pre-K through 11th grade will now be a half day on Friday, May 23.

Reason for the Adjustment: With seven snow days resulting in 45.5 lost hours, the original last day of school (May 20) would have been extended to May 29, requiring students and staff to return after Memorial Day for three additional days, including finals. To avoid this disruption, we reviewed options that would keep the calendar instructionally sound while also considering the needs of students and staff. Since the district typically exceeds DESE’s required 1,044 student hours, administration adjusted the calendar to recover necessary time without extending the school year past the holiday.

Approved Calendar Change:

• New Total Days Added to Calendar: 3 days (19.5 hours)
• Updated Total Calendar Hours: 1,066.5 (Well over 1,044 minimum hours and strikes a good balance while maintaining educational integrity)
• New Last Day of School: May 23 (half day)

We confirmed with DESE that this adjustment meets all statutory requirements. This change provides a more effective transition to summer break for students and staff, avoiding the challenge of returning after Memorial Day to complete finals.

Check out the Board Briefs and the Board Minutes from the Tuesday, March 18, 2025, Board of Education Regular Meeting. This unofficial document includes more context and details than our official Board News. All Board documents, such as the Board News, the presentation and these Board Briefs, are located on the “Board of Education” page of our district's website.

UPDATE: Due to the rain and temperature forecasted for Sunday, the Easter Eggstravaganza festivities have been moved to the Ste. Genevieve High School Gymnasium. The egg hunt at noon will be outside, if possible!

🥚1400 eggs

🥚Kids Games

🥚Face Paint

🥚Crafts

🥚Bounce Houses

We hope to see you there! The Special Olympics team thanks you for the support!

#SGFamily #SpecialOlympics

The 4th and final Betty's Color Splash 1 Mile Fun Run will be Saturday, May 3, in memory of SGHS alumna & BLE teacher Bethany Bequette. This run funds a scholarship in her memory. To participate or sponsor, click here.

The Scholastic Book Fair will be held next week (April 7 - 11) in the RWT Library. You can shop in person or online at: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/stegenevievesrhs. Did you know? 25% of every purchase goes toward supporting our school!

We want to thank our SG R-II Board of Education for their dedication and contributions to our schools! #SGFamily #GivingBack #PublicEducationStrong #SchoolBoardRecognition 🐲 🌎