Field Elementary celebrated its new classrooms Tuesday with a ribbon cutting.
Field and Wilder Elementary Schools each got a 4-classroom addition, using funds from Proposition S, to help them accommodate students in the Pershing boundary. Those students will be moved when their current K-8 school building is torn down. A new Pershing will be built for middle school students only.
Field Principal Adam Bax said they’ve already welcomed 25 Pershing students, and they’re expecting another 40 to 50 next year.
He said he’s been talking with the Field PTA about making sure they feel welcome "because we want to value their traditions and experiences because, you know, they're experiencing a different level of emotion throughout this process, as well as us wanting to welcome them in and also be inviting and welcoming and taking some of their traditions and being integrative of those, too, into our experiences here."
Field currently has just over 400 students with three classes in each grade. Bax said they expect to use three to four of the new classrooms to accommodate the additional students at the school, which is part of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme.
Shawn Dilday, executive director of operations for Springfield Public Schools, said the Prop S projects are on budget.
He said they’re currently in the design phase for the Pershing, Bingham and Bissett projects. Bingham and Bissett weren’t included in Prop S.
"But we were fortunate enough to have funds left over and utilized funds properly, and we've pulled two new projects up to this current year cycle," he said, "so two additional projects out of this have been a great addition to all the bond projects this year."
Bingham will get a new school building, and Bissett will get an addition and significant renovations. Construction is set to begin next year.
Those projects would have required approval of another bond issue and would not have begun before 2028.
Dilday said construction of the new Reed Middle School is expected to be finished next spring, and Pipkin will be completed by the fall of 2026.
Prop S also funded six new storm shelters and safety improvements at school buildings.
