Board Narrows High School Concepts, Requests More Information →

A vision for the future of the St. Joseph School District’s facilities continues to take shape as the Board of Education narrows the options for high school plans.

The Board came to a consensus during Monday’s meeting to move forward with conversations around the concepts that include building new -- with more information needed to determine if a one or two high school model would be best for students.

The decision from the Board follows a year-long process that included research from architecture and planning partners, as well as community engagement.

For more information about Monday’s meeting, including meeting materials and our feedback summary report from our latest round of community engagement, click to view the full update from the board meeting on the school district’s website.

New Concepts! Join Us Oct 23 & 24 for a Community Conversation

A Message from Superintendent Doug Van Zyl:

A few months ago, our school district started the process to shape a new vision for the future of our schools. We partnered with leading architects, engaged our community, and spent many hours in discussion and analysis around the dynamic education, enrollment, and financial needs of our district. 

We have had dozens of conversations, including several community focus group discussions, as well as many staff and leadership-based discussions to develop several concepts for our future, with particular focus on the high school level, where we are poised to make the most immediate and impactful changes. 

We are ready to share our latest round of concepts for a community-wide conversation about the future of St. Joseph School District. The St. Joseph School District and architecture and planning partners will host conversations about our community’s vision for how to best to prepare St. Joseph students for academic and career success.

Below are details for each event. 

Dates: October 23 & 24
Time: 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. (New conversations at the top of each hour)
Location: emPowerU, 518 S 6th Street, Saint Joseph, MO

Join us for new breakout discussions at the top of the hour at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., or 7 p.m. Stay for the whole event, or come and go as you please.

Conversations will center on our concepts and related issues, including strategic planning for education and our city and school district finances.

Thank you for your commitment to our students and the St. Joseph community.

District Gathers Feedback on Facilities During Focus Groups

Nearly 100 people joined the St. Joseph School District on August 7, 2019 to provide feedback about the future of the district’s facilities.

Community members, students, and district employees attended focus group sessions at emPowerU in St. Joseph as part of the SJSD’s Master Facilities Planning process.

Participants reviewed six concepts, presented by DLR Group. The maps depicted a variety of possibilities for the potential make-up of district facilities.

View concepts here. These concepts are for discussion purposes only. No decisions have been made. They are initial ideas to generate feedback and inform further planning.

DLR group gathered data this summer, which included capacity figures and the condition of each building. They used that information to help guide the design of the concepts.

Those involved in the focus groups evaluated each concept, then shared opportunities, challenges and the potential impact of each concept on the community.

The input gathered this week will be reviewed as the district considers all options for the most efficient mix of school facilities that will meet the current and future needs of students. DLR Group will share the feedback from the focus groups in a report to the Board of Education later this month.

Additional meetings will be available for the community and district employees to provide feedback as the long-range planning process continues.

At this point, no decisions have been made regarding any of the concepts, and future presentations will reflect feedback collected during the process.

Members of the media were in attendance. Below are links to two stories about the focus group discussions.

NewsPressNOW: SJSD opens facilities discussion to community
KNPG 21: VIDEO: SJSD opens facilities discussion to community

DLR Group Presents Data, Ideas for SJSD Facilities

Members of DLR Group shared data from their evaluation of the St. Joseph School District's facilities during the Board of Education work session on Monday, July 29.

During August and September there will be opportunities for engagement around the facilities assessments and “big ideas” or possibilities for the future of SJSD schools.

"We need to know where we are before we begin discussing where we need to go. DLR did exactly what we asked them to do by evaluating all of our current facilities," said Seth Wright, Board president. "We are now sharing that information with the public so that we can begin the conversation about what this community wants this school district to look like moving forward."

To read DLR’s presentation to the board and learn more about the board working session, please visit the school district website by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2KckTVO.

Results from Our First Survey

This summer, we kicked off the SJSD Master Facilities Plan process by seeking community feedback through our first online “Introduction” survey to help us develop a vision to improve our school facilities and better prepare our kids for success in school, the workplace, and life.

We are pleased to share the results of survey with you, which you can download by clicking here. We are grateful to all who took the time to share their thoughts and ideas with us.

We will launch our second survey during the first week of July, which will be open for two weeks. Questions in our second survey build on the results from our first survey to help us hone in on specific priority areas we should consider in our MFP. Additionally, we will soon begin recruitment for several targeted focus group discussions to dig into “big ideas” that will inform the recommendations that lead to our final plan. 

Thank you for time and engagement in this process! Please stay tuned for more updates.

Welcome to our facilities plan website

Welcome to our Master Facilities Plan website! Throughout the summer, we will update this site with information about our schools, opportunities for engagement in the facilities planning process, and feedback from the process and how it is used to make decisions about the final plan.

We need your help to envision the future of our schools. Share this website with your family, friends, and neighbors. Take our online surveys. Engage with us on social media. Sign-up to participate in an in-person engagement activity.

Thank you for your commitment to our schools and the St. Joseph community. Please stay tuned as this process moves forward.