JC schools buy land for possible elementary school

The Jefferson City Public School district is buying this open land located off East McCarty Street in Jefferson City. The site sits just below Lewis and Clark Middle School.
The Jefferson City Public School district is buying this open land located off East McCarty Street in Jefferson City. The site sits just below Lewis and Clark Middle School.

Jefferson City's Public Schools bought more than 11 acres this week.

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7-in-1 Planter's Buddy

The School Board on Wednesday approved the $220,000 purchase from Celeste Laux.

"Her residence is on that property, (which) sits directly between Lewis and Clark Middle School and East McCarty Street," Superintendent Brian Mitchell explained. "This is a piece of property that we had been looking at for a little while, when we became aware that it might be for sale."

A Kansas City consultant's demographic study of the district predicts the public schools will add "from a low projection of 500 additional students over the next 10 years to over 3,000 new students," Mitchell said.

And that was just one of the factors prompting administrators to think about more elementary classroom space.

"We're already at capacity in schools throughout the district," he said. "There are just a few schools that are below capacity.