PIERCE CITY, Mo. — It’s a tough year to put a bond issue before voters but the Pierce City School District has more than the usual obstacles. If you take one look at Pierce City Middle School, anyone can see “we need to upgrade our facilities,” said Principal Gayla DeGraffenreid.

Each classroom has its own issues. In one, the floor is warped, for example. The problems extend beyond the crowded classrooms: “no hot water.” Even beyond the building, “we have kids who walk out to classrooms.”

DeGraffenreid and Superintendent Russ Moreland say the classrooms are overstuffed. So, this April, the district is turning to the voters, asking them to approve a bond issue for the construction of a new school, and the removal of the old one. “With the help of two structural engineers and an architect, we decided it would be best to build new,” said Moreland. Not everyone agrees.

“It appears to be structurally sound. We could save the building and a considerable amount of money,” said Jay Bierkortte, president of the Pierce City Historical Society. The society sees the building, constructed in 1921, as an integral part of the town. “Especially because so much of the city disappeared in the tornado (in 2003), this is one of the largest structures left,” said Bierkortte.

Bierkortte acknowledges the problems but still thinks there’s a better option. “We hope eventually they get to build, update and preserve the building at the same time,” he said. “We appreciate and respect that but our concern is looking at it as an educational tool and resource for our kids,” said Moreland. And, while the district says the graduating class of 1922 had a wonderful resource, that generation’s state of the art building isn’t working for this generation of students.

If the bond issue passes, and the district goes forward with construction, Moreland says they hope to start building late this summer, and move students in the following school year.

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