Staff and faculty in the Wright City R-II School District are looking forward to the positive impact that new high school facilities have on student academics, as well as on athletics and fine arts. 

The Wright City R-II School Board last month approved the low base bid for high school construction, along with football stadium and baseball and softball field alternate bids, for just over $55 million. The anticipated total project cost including architect and engineering fees, contingency, an expansion of East Elementary and phase two of the project is about $66.4 million. 

District officials anticipate students will occupy the new high school in early 2025. 

The football stadium will provide a field and track for use by the football, soccer, and track and field teams. The football stadium and baseball and softball fields will all have turf, which will provide more practice and game days for various athletic programs in the district. 

“The biggest thing would be you’re not going to battle as many days with the elements,” Wright City Activities Director Dave Evans said. “Kids are going to get to play on a truer surface, so we don’t have to work around grass cutting schedules, around rain and snow. It’s easy enough to clear off if it gets snow on it. We can pretty much be out there if it’s warm enough to be safely out there.” 

Baseball coach Ryan Raterman and softball coach Fred Ross both stressed the benefits the turf field will provide their programs. Ross described the high school’s current facilities as “average at best.” He noted they take a lot of maintenance. The new fields will offer the students the opportunity to use the facilities year round. 

Raterman said the extra reps and being on the field every day, barring lightning or downpouring rain, will be beneficial to the baseball athletes. 

“I think it will benefit us too with the speed of play and the way we play,” Raterman said. “We’re just going to be even faster on turf.” 

The turf football field was the school band program’s top priority, Band Director Doug Schaffer said. Schaffer said the turf field is safer for the students and will provide a better surface for performances. 

“Any time you get a higher box, you’re excited for it,” Schaffer said. “The concept of turf just opens up some of the stuff we can do visually because when we’re thinking about our competitive season and we’re out on grass, it’s one of those we can’t lay down and roll around like some other groups because we’re performing on grass and mud on Friday nights.” 

The band will utilize the football field during marching band far more than they would utilize an indoor venue for concert band concerts, one of the items that was passed over for initial construction. Schaffer noted a rehearsal room is part of the plan at the high school. 

The high school band plays at four to seven home football games each year, depending on the football team’s postseason success. They also host a festival each year, which Schaffer anticipates may increase in participation due to the size of the new facility. Schaffer stressed the festival is a massive fundraiser for the band. By comparison, the band would only utilize an indoor concert venue for two concerts and a regional competition. 

Raterman added the turf fields will also provide an educational advantage. They will be able to put one physical education class on the turf football field and a second class on the turf baseball and softball field during the school day. 

Due to funding availability, the school board did not award a bid for the construction of a performance gymnasium, which would have been utilized for varsity sports competitions. The high school plan does include construction of an auxiliary gym, which will provide benefits to athletes of court sports. The auxiliary gym’s plan is for a main court and two side courts. It adds another gymnasium to the district, which will allow the boys and girls basketball teams to practice at the same time. Evans said one team will practice at the current gym and the other team will practice at the auxiliary gym. The teams currently practice back-to-back, which leads to one team not concluding practice until 8 p.m. Evans said he hopes the district will build a performance gym in the future. Athletic competitions that cannot be held in the auxiliary gym will be held in the current high school’s gym. 

“The idea of adding the auxiliary gym early and then coming back later with the performance gym gives us the opportunity once it’s all said and done to host bigger tournaments. To get a lot more youth activities going in there without it costing the people the full days,” Evans said. 

Although all athletic teams and fine arts programs did not get everything they wanted, Wright City R-II Superintendent Dr. Chris Berger stressed there will be a lot of net gains for the district. The new facility will allow the drama class to meet at the cafetorium at the new high school. They currently have class at West Elementary School because that location has a stage. 

The new high school includes another weight room and a multi-purpose room, which the district sees as possibly a CrossFit-type of facility. 

Berger added every classroom at the high school will be an improvement over the current high school facility. 

“Every classroom that we’re going to be entering is designed for that curricular program,” Berger said. 

Site work at the new high school location, located between Roelker Road and Highway F, is scheduled to begin in January and be wrapped up in October 2024.