Breese, Ill., January 30, 2026 – Poettker Construction, an award-winning, family-owned construction management firm, built 15 education projects in 2025 toward preparing Greater St. Louis and Southern Illinois for the 2025-2026 school year.
Drawing on their deep understanding of the educational environment, the Poettker Construction team tailors their services specifically for schools by minimizing disruption to learning, prioritizing safety, monitoring every penny, and completing projects before the academic year begins.
Poettker’s stellar education performance motivated Mascoutah CUSD #19 to hire the company for a fourth project. Poettker built a 24,000 SF addition to Mascoutah Middle School to support a new library, esports media lab, art room, 10 classrooms, and an outdoor classroom. The school’s leadership personally thanked Poettker’s crew for maintaining such a clean and safe site, which they said helped alleviate parent concerns during construction.
“At Mascoutah, we pride ourselves on providing our students and community with some of the finest educational and extracurricular resources and facilities,” said Dr. David Deets, Superintendent of Mascoutah CUSD #19. “Therefore, when improving, updating, or increasing capacity of our facilities, our decision on what companies we work with are extremely important. During the past three years, we have completed multiple addition and renovation projects together, and at every step, Poettker demonstrated that they are not just a construction company but are true partners and friends of the district who understand the importance of trust, communication, and responsiveness. Thank you to the team at Poettker for all you’ve done and all you’ll continue to do for Mascoutah CUSD19.”
Schools that hire Poettker as their Construction Manager benefit from Poettker’s expertise in the planning phase, well before construction begins. In a Construction Management capacity, Poettker Construction meets with school leadership and architects to understand the goals of the project. Poettker advises its education clients throughout the project and involves them in decision-making. As the construction lead, Poettker reviews the project documents for quality, cost-saving opportunities, constructability and ultimately to satisfy the client’s goals.
Columbia High School engaged Poettker as their Construction Management partner in the construction of a 110,900 SF addition housing a state-of-the-art auditorium, classrooms, gymnasium, and athletic support facilities. “(The Poettker team) has worked tirelessly on this project,” said Greg Meyer, Columbia Community Unit School District #4 Board President. “The solicitation was very well done. Our response was overwhelming, and we got a lot of competitive bids, which really kept our prices down. Thank you all for your hard work.”
Poettker Construction prides itself on providing excellent communication throughout the process. Stakeholders receive weekly reports of the project schedule, a recap of recently completed work, project photos, a budget update, and what the team plans to work on next. To keep projects ahead of the start of the school year, weekly coordination meetings are held with Poettker, school staff, the design team, and subcontractors.
Every school, regardless of the size of the project, receives individual attention. Under its multi-year Bond program with the Parkway School District in St. Louis County, Poettker served eight different schools on a range of projects this summer, including everything from extensive renovations and expansions, playground upgrades and swimming pool renovations to installing fire suppressions systems and repairing parking lots. Poettker’s Project Director overseeing the Parkway projects personally met with every school principal to ensure their needs were met before school began.
“Schools are designed to provide students with a safe and accessible place for teaching, learning, and experiences to occur. Poettker Construction understands this,” said Dr. Jaime Otto, Principal, Parkway River Bend Elementary School. “Our young students had a front-row seat to the design process and trade professions, which we believe are assets for teaching the whole child. The people of Poettker Construction were a pleasure with which to work. The site superintendent, project manager, and project director became a part of our school family. Construction of such magnitude comes with challenges, but this team’s communication and collaboration kept us moving positively toward the goal. We now have two beautiful classroom additions and added safety features so that River Bend students can continue to learn and grow.”
What education clients remember most is the team’s personal touch. In addition to construction, Poettker assists with school events, such as tours of new schools or additions during construction, drone demonstrations, STEAM learning, and supporting teachers during move-in. One Project Manager even created custom supply boxes with wildflowers for every teacher.
“Throughout this process, I’ve been consistently impressed and genuinely enjoyed working with several members of your team,” said Dr. Kevin M. Martin, Principal of Parkway Northeast Middle School. “They’ve been approachable, communicative, collaborative, and I believe they’ve gone above and beyond to make sure everything runs smoothly.”
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About Poettker Construction: Established in 1980, Poettker Construction is an award-winning, family-owned business specializing in construction management, design/build, general contracting, and self-perform services with an emphasis on exceeding the client’s expectations. Poettker Construction is dedicated to providing safe, quality, sustainable, and technology solutions to clients in a diverse portfolio of markets. The company prides itself on building long-lasting relationships with their clients, business partners and the communities in which they work, with an impressive 88 percent of Poettker’s revenue stemming from repeat clients.
