Facility study warns of multi‑year enrollment growth; district proposes additions and renovations

A facility study conducted with Mosley and Walpert and presented to the Lexon School District 4 board outlined capacity pressures tied to local housing growth and recommended a mix of repairs, renovations and additions to accommodate projected enrollment gains.

The presenter summarized program versus design capacity and said the study uses a planning assumption of roughly 50 housing units per year to model future growth. “When we’re looking at it as a whole, the five‑year mark, we’re looking at an addition of 120 students. The 10‑year mark, we’re looking at close to 514 students,” the presenter said.

Recommendations were grouped by priority: address critical needs and safety‑related repairs within the next one to two years; adopt life‑cycle funding and a preventive maintenance schedule; stabilize and modernize existing facilities; and plan for growth with targeted additions. Examples included level‑three renovations and classroom additions at the primary and elementary schools (eight classrooms at the primary site, four at the elementary side, 16 combined for SPES), four to eight classrooms at Sand Hills Middle School by year five, and six classrooms at the high school by year six.

The presenter also reviewed site and traffic options. For early childhood and primary sites, Mosley proposed two parent‑drop‑off loop options—one routing around a field and another that stacks two lanes through a wooded area—and recommended further safety study. At the high school, the study suggested expanding the parent loop and adding parking to ease event‑day congestion, and recommended renovating a science lab that has not been updated since the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Construction timing given in the presentation included an expected completion of the Francis Mack addition by December, with interior renovations to follow in January or early February. The presenter emphasized these are recommendations and that final decisions would follow further analysis and board direction.

Board members asked practical questions about safety for two‑lane parent loops at elementary sites and noted trees and local traffic patterns as constraints; the presenter said the options aim to balance capacity and safety and are not final designs.