Immaculate Conception begins $1 million school expansion

Citing a need for additional classroom space and a new library, Immaculate Conception School has started work on an 8,790-square-foot addition.

Ground-breaking ceremonies were held on May 22, Principal Paula Baird said. Located at South Fremont and East Primrose, the school will add to the northwest side of the existing structure in phase I of the project.

The new space will include four classrooms and a band room, freeing up areas in the existing building for remodeling in the second and third phases of the project.

In the existing building, the parish meeting/banquet room will be expanded into the vacated band room, and a new library and media room will be installed at the west end of the existing structure, which now contains classrooms.

"The library will occupy about 3,000 square feet and a media/computer room another 900 square feet of that vacated space at that end of the building," said Father Lewis Hejna.

Cost for the expansion and remodeling is estimated at $1 million, Baird said.

The first addition to Immaculate Conception began July 21 and is scheduled for completion in January, Baird said. The remodeling phase of the project will begin when the new area is ready for occupancy and will be done by the summer 2004.

DeWitt and Associates Inc. is general contractor for the project, and Marshall-Waters-Woody Associates is overseeing the architectural and engineering end of the planning and construction.

Growth

Immaculate Conception had 610 students during the 2002-03 school year, Baird said. The school serves preschool through eighth grade, with 24 full-time teachers and 21 support staff.

"Our goal in the expansion is not to increase enrollment, but to better serve the student population we already have," Baird said.

Hejna, who has taught in the Catholic school system for 16, came to Springfield about two years ago. During his ministry he has helped two schools in other regions build libraries.

"Because of the size of (Immaculate Conception), I assumed we wouldn't need to do that here," Hejna said. "That was not the case. Students have to have a good library whether it is grade school or high-school level."

The first Immaculate Conception school and church was started in 1868 at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Pine Street (later renamed Tampa Street), Baird said.

The school was moved to a Cherokee and Fremont location in 1957, and the existing building was completed in 1981, Baird said. Between 1980 and 1991, Immaculate Conception doubled its enrollment from 300 to about 600.

The Immaculate Conception parish supports the largest Catholic school in Springfield and in the diocese, which spans most of southern Missouri.

There are six local parishes Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Agnes, Holy Trinity and Sacred Heart. Of those parishes, Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph and St. Agnes have elementary schools. Springfield Catholic High School is supported by the six parishes.

Fifty-three percent of collections at each of the six local parishes are earmarked for the schools, but building improvements have to come from parishioners where the school is located.

According to Director of Springfield Catholic Schools Ann Meese, 45 percent of school funding comes from tuition and 15 percent comes from fund raising. The remaining 40 percent comes from parish subsidies.