The Marquand-Zion R-VI School District is undergoing major changes this summer. Demolition of the “old high school” building started on June 17, and was completed by Friday June 20, 2008. The work was done by Kevin Williams Excavation, and they did a very efficient job.

Construction of a new lobby for the gym is planned to begin the week of June 23, and should be done in time for school to start in August. The old gym still stands and there are not any plans to tear it down. However, Marquand-Zion does plan to build a new gym within the near future.

The decision to take down the old building was not made lightly. However, costs to renovate it would have been much greater than tearing it down and starting from scratch. The building had not been used since 2003 when the new high school was finished. At that time classes were moved from the building due the structural and electrical issues. Following is a bit of historical information based on school board meeting minutes.

The building that has been taken down was actually two different sections built at different times and was full of history. The first building was built in the early 1900’s set away from the gymnasium. “The Marquand High School was first organized as a four year high school in 1927. The first graduating class consisted of seven members: Mabel Barker, Harold Braswell, Mabel Braswell, Pansy Henson, Edwin Mouser, Lee Roy Mouser and Christy Mouser. At that time both the elementary and the high school were housed in the same building. In 1955, the school was expanded with a new addition which connected the original school building to the gymnasium. J.C. Starkey cut all the lumber for the building with a mill he owned and operated in Marquand at the time.”—this is from the program used at the building dedication December 11, 1955.

The board of education at Marquand School district in 1955 was made up of Floyd Whitener (President), Paul Mouser (secretary), Ford Sitzes, EB Tripp, Marvin Hawn and Willie Sitze. This school board took bids and interviewed contractors on March 18, 1955. Their choices were: Gifford Lumber Company, Fredericktown; Ben Sides, Perryville; Masters Construction Company, Jackson; Jennings Lumber Company, Farmington; Floyd Cheek, Marquand; Certified Builders, Fredericktown. The bids that were taken were based on a total expenditure of $60,000.

April 8, 1955—two board members were replaced by Gale Cheek and Elwood Mouser. This new board voted to contract Ben Sides of Perryville to build the new high school building.

August 1, 1955—the board discussed the locker situation. The original plan was to have 85 lockers on the first floor and 109 on the second floor. The board decided that it would be more cost efficient to just put lockers on the first floor for the time being.

August 9, 1955—the board met with Dewey Barks to discuss renting the café building near the school until the new school building was completed. The price for renting this building was $25 per calendar month starting in September 1955.

June 4. 1956—the board recorded the final count for the expenditures for the new high school building. The total came to approximately $79,266.81.

December 31, 1956—The Marquand Reorganized School District R-VI drew up plans to include the districts of Saco, Reed’s Bend, Beulah, Green’s Chapel, Jewett, Mt. Pisgah, Miner’s Hill and Zion. They pledged to maintain an elementary school at Zion. Thus they proposed the newly formed district be known as the Marquand-Zion Reorganized School District.

Currently (2008) the Marquand-Zion administration is Duane Schindler Superintendent and Pamela Moyers Principal K-12. The school board members are Kathy Mills, President; Steve Stroup, Secretary; Lethia Homan, Kay Mouser, Amber McCutcheon, Rick Lord, and Patrick Whitener.