The North Callaway R-I School District will have a new elementary school building finished in time for 2026-27 school year, and the school will have playground equipment to go with it.

The district’s board of education at its July 17 meeting accepted the proposal of playground equipment that will be on the school property. The new North Callaway Elementary School and Thunderbird Learning Center will open for the 2026-27 school year. 

“Accepting a proposal for the playground was a really big deal because that is a marquee feature of our new school,” Superintendent Kenya Thompson told the Ledger, adding that other features also are coming together at the new building and progress is being made at the school. “Just our ability to be very thoughtful and diligent about how we’re using taxpayer dollars in the creation of that building is really important.”

The playground, from Parkscape Solutions, will be installed in spring 2026. Thompson said officials are excited about the construction of the new building, and she commended the board for its work.

“The intentionality of the board to make sure that they’re good stewards of our community and our district patrons, I think it always resonates because they’re trying to make the best decisions, especially financially in a time where there’s uncertainty related to federal funding and state funding,” she said. “(They’re) just being very good stewards of our district dollars.”

Thompson said in her Superintendent’s Report that open houses will be held Aug. 13 at Hatton-McCredie and Williamsburg elementary schools, with kindergarten from 5:30–6 p.m. and grades 1–5 from 6–7:30 p.m. and then Aug. 14 at the middle school from 5–7 p.m. and at the high school from 6–8 p.m. Classes begin Aug. 19.

Thompson said in her report to the board that the district received word on July 11 from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that the district will receive the 21st Century After-School Grant for 2025-26. In her report, she said DESE stated that even though there is a federal review hold on the new federal grant award to states, “Missouri has enough carry-over to make these awards for this year. These funds should be used for immediate programming and not for delayed implementation.” 

Thompson said this was “significantly better news than anticipated” and gives the district a year to plan for a potential scenario in which the 21st Century Grant program is no longer funded.  

The district needs to hire people for two positions heading into the school year: a middle/high school choir teacher and a Thunderbird Learning Center teacher.