After years of talking about the need for a new alternative school amid other pressing projects, plans for a new facility are now on paper.

A committee has advanced a rough “basic needs” schematic this month to the Warren County R-III School Board and administrators.

With plans for a 6,000-square-foot multi-classroom building on paper, the committee now has the green light to proceed to a more detailed architectural drawing that can be used to solicit construction bids for building next year, likely on the site where the alternative school trailer rests.

“We can’t stay in the current building, so we need to pin down as much as we can now and move ahead,” said board member Scott Costello. “We don’t have enough room now to accommodate the community’s needs.”

He noted there is a waiting list for the program, and that students who need to be in it are being turned back because of lack of space.

Board Vice President Dale Schowe, who leads the newly formed project planning committee, told board members and administrators that there are substantial benefits to building on the current site near Daniel Boone Elementary, including taking advantage of existing electrical and plumbing hookups.

He said the project likely would take five months to build and cost between $100 and $110 per square foot, since the district is required to pay prevailing wages for construction.

Board members said they had hoped for a less costly outlay, but wage issues along with the need for sturdier construction parameters to address safety put the estimated cost in the $600,000 range, which Superintendent Dr. John Long had originally projected.

Schowe said that while he and others would like to have included space for child care in the plan for teenage mothers, meeting licensing and other government requirements likely are more than the district can accommodate now.

“Our main emphasis should be on the basic program we have now and being able to offer it to more students,” he said.

Schowe said the building will be designed with flexibility in mind so that down the road it could be used for another program like early childhood if the district’s needs change. At 700 square feet, the classrooms in the new facility would be somewhat smaller than the average size of regular district classrooms, which are about 900 square feet.

The committee is looking at the possibility of having some work such as wiring and ductwork done by the district’s building maintenance staff.

The alternative school currently has two teachers and a paraprofessional, and with additional classrooms would come the need for more staff, noted High School Principal Jeremy Way.