South Columbia has a brand-new elementary school, and on Monday, Aug. 3, the community got its first real look inside. Columbia Public Schools held a ribbon-cutting for Eagle Bluffs Elementary, the district’s newest building, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., with tours of the finished classrooms right after the ceremony.
The school sits at 5400 S. Sinclair Road, next door to John Warner Middle School. It’s a two-story, $36 million building spanning 76,500 square feet, built to hold up to 740 students and around 140 staff members once it’s at full capacity.
It’s also years in the making. Voters approved the land purchase in a 2018 bond issue, then approved the money to build the school itself in a 2022 bond issue. Since then it’s been steadily rising on the south side of town — and now it’s finished.
“We celebrate possibility, partnership and a shared commitment to children,” Principal Sarah Sicht told the crowd at Monday’s ceremony.
Students won’t move in right away. Columbia Public Schools’ first day of classes for the 2026–2027 school year is Aug. 25, so the building has a few weeks to get filled with desks, books and supplies before its first class of students walks through the door.
For a growing district, a new elementary school is the kind of milestone that’s easy to take for granted until you remember what actually stands behind it: two separate rounds of voters saying yes to paying for it, years of construction, and now a finished building on Sinclair Road waiting for its first bell.
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