EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – Incite Design Studio is standing firm on its recommendation to replace Lewis Elementary School.

Based in the Kansas City metro area, Incite is the architectural firm working with the Excelsior Springs School District on its long-range facility planning. Aaron Harte, director of educational planning, discussed the firm’s recommendations for Lewis when the Board of Education convened in May at the Support Services Center. Patrick Smith, office director and client leader, appeared with him.

During a slide presentation preceding the board’s approval of a long-term plan for district structures, Harte said Lewis had been tagged in the most recent phase of planning “as, really, the main project” for the next phase. After re-examining the 71-yearold facility “with a fresh set of eyes,” Incite determined that, because of the expenses to renovate, “replacement is still the right option,” he said.

It is possible to construct a new Lewis in back of the old one, with students still attending classes in the current building, Harte said.

“It’ll be disruptive, in the sense that a lot of the playground areas and things like that might be disrupted,” he said.

That is an issue Incite and the district “will continue to vet out as we work our way forward,” Harte said.

Plans for other facilities, per Incite’s recommendations, include building a high school auxiliary gym. Listed as a finalphase project, based on a three-phase planning system, the proposed project is “kind of a wild card, in terms of when it happens,” Harte said.

“Based on the student load that we have now, … there is a need, programmatically, for another gym,” he said. “And we also need a safe room.”

Still other plans include installing new roofing at the Early Childhood Center, formerly Westview Elementary, Harte said.

“(We’re) also looking at the HVAC (heating ventilation air conditioning) system – providing some dedicated fresh air, (a) ventilation system throughout, and then, also upgrading the existing façade,” Harte said.

Additional issues Harte and Smith covered included five general, long-term goals for district buildings. The first is fixing current facilities, Harte said. That ties into the second goal – keeping facilities “accessible” and “safe, secure,” he said.

The other goals are to solicit student and teacher opinions about facility plans, being “proactive in our changes” and “innovative and flexible learning environments,” Harte said.

“You can kind of see how those work – that people aren’t even thinking about innovative learning environments when they’re worried about their roofs falling in and there’s water dripping on them and there’s paint peeling, right?” he said.