Not only does Jefferson City have a new public high school on its horizon, but a new boarding school for a dozen local under-resourced and underprivileged children also is in the works.
St. Nicholas Academy President Elizabeth Huber said she has been planning the school for years and it will draw students from Jefferson City and Cole County.
"We have too many kids in Jefferson City who come to school hungry and dirty," Huber said of needing to get some students focused on school instead of having to worry about their survival.
Parents who apply for their children to live at the school would need to prove economic need.
The boarding school in a remodeled space at 1310 Edgewood Drive is set for a fall 2018 opening.
"That is still my hope. I think it's pretty aggressive to get it done that fast," Huber said.
The Jefferson City Council approved plans for St. Nicholas Academy in November, and Huber said an architect and the city now are working to revise the plans to resolve code issues.
St. Nicholas will lease its building from Capital Region Medical Center and will be able to serve up to 12 children, who eventually will range from preschool to high school.
"We want to accept them very young and then grow them up," Huber said.
She's basing her school off of the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
"In their model, the kids are able to stay year-round," she said. The children at St. Nicholas Academy will have the opportunity to go back to live with their families over part of the summer.
However, families will have to make commitments to their children's education and experience that will fundamentally change their day-to-day interactions.
Huber said parents will sign an agreement that gives them opportunities to visit their children at the school, but not any day they want, as routines are important for children.
Two full-time "house parents" will live with the children; and there will be "relief parents," volunteer staff and a director. The house parents and director will be paid employees.
Huber said the role of the house parents will be to "provide love, attention, help, guidance and mentoring." Although she noted the children know house parents aren't their real parents, she does think the boarding school will become a family of its own in some ways.
Interviews for house parents will commence once the school's director gets established in her role, she said. She has a director lined up in Sister Susan Renner of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who will move to Jefferson City from St. Louis and bring with her 20 years of experience, including running a special needs boarding school.
The relief parents will have part of the building set aside for them - accommodations similar to a hotel suite - which will allow them to fill in for the house parents when they need breaks.
"I'm already collecting names of volunteers," Huber said of other staff.
Students who live at St. Nicholas Academy will attend St. Peter Interparish School for their education.
"This project has evolved into one that is going to be pretty tightly coupled with the Catholic community," Huber said.
She intends for older students to attend Helias High School
"I would also think, however, that we want to take advantage of the Nichols Career Center" and other area opportunities, she added.
Huber said a lot of the initial funding for St. Nicholas will be from private donors.
"I have enough to get it going for a couple years," she said. After that, she plans funding connections will be developed with the community based on the marketable success of the school.
"We might open another facility and partner with another school, and it doesn't have to stop there," she told the News Tribune previously.
The City Council's amendment to the Planned Unit Development plan for the Edgewood address accommodated St. Nicholas Academy's possible future uses at the site.
Huber said it probably will be June at the earliest when families will be able to apply for their children's admission to St. Nicholas Academy. She hopes to have a website active in the next few weeks.