Nixa schools prepare for huge growth

The continued growth of the Nixa community has led to the need for new schools, and the district is responding.
The Nixa R-II School District comprises 4,500 students, and Superintendent Stephen Kleinsmith said that number is climbing.
“When I came here in the summer of 2000, we had 1,000 fewer students than we have today,” he said.
“Right now we’re adding 200 students a year, and studies suggest a gradual increase.”
The district’s 10-year master plan and facilities outlook holds the answer: four different building spurts during the next eight years.
The first on the schedule includes a
new kindergarten through fourth-grade elementary school in Nixa’s northeast and a new industrial arts building at the high school.
Other new buildings include a new junior high school on the west side in 2009, a new south fifth- and sixth-grade elementary in 2011 and a second high school in the fall of 2013.
The biggest issue with the extra students now is where to put them all. The junior high school already is using mobile trailers to house some of its classes, and Kleinsmith said it’s not alone.
“The high school has already moved into the third floor and we still have half of the third floor to complete, which will handle growth over the next six or seven years,” he said.
“In our fifth- and sixth-grade center, we’ve got a little bit of breathing room – we’ve got maybe two extra classrooms available for growth. The elementary buildings are all at capacity; in fact, two of the four have trailers en route to be delivered any day now to be ready for 2005.”
[[In-content Ad]]