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Voters in the Glenville-Emmons school district will determine in August whether the district should construct a new school building after the school board approved a building bond resolution during Monday’s board meeting. 

The building would serve pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.  

According to the district’s website, the new building is estimated to cost $32 million to $37 million, and the building bonds will not exceed $37.4 million.

The proposed building would be at the site of the current high school, and both the elementary and high school would continue to operate in their current locations while a new building is constructed. If the referendum passes, planning and engineering will occur through 2024, with construction scheduled to happen in 2025 and 2026, with the goal of opening the building in September 2026.

Meetings to discuss the proposed school building will be May 10 at Glenville-Emmons secondary school and June 6 at both Glenville-Emmons elementary and high school. Another 5:30 p.m. May 18 meeting was also scheduled, tentatively to be held at the Emmons Legion. All times are from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., and tour buses will be provided at the May 10 meeting for people wanting to tour the buildings. 

Glenville-Emmons Superintendent Brian Shanks is hopeful a video about the project will be available to show people at the Emmons meeting, and he was hopeful the Legion would be available to use for the meeting.  

“That gives flexibility then for folks to stop in [during what’s] best on their schedule, whether it’s on their way home from work,” said Tom Weber, director of community engagement at SitelogIQ, adding that after one or two meetings people would start hearing about them through word of mouth. 

SitelogIQ is the building company the district is partnering with on the project. According to their website, the company works to make buildings better, and provides facility analysts, planners, designers, engineers, builders, project managers, energy experts and sales and support staff.

Weber was hopeful information would be mailed out to residents in the district in the next couple of weeks.

“I think it’s an exciting opportunity for the school district and the communities here,” he said. “The benefits that will come for the staff and the students in town is something that we’ll be very looking forward to.”

By comparison, the district estimated it would cost $18 to $21 million to fix current infrastructure. The cost estimate does not include any updates to the learning environments such as secure entryways.

Questions or comments regarding the proposal can be sent to Shanks at shanksb@geschools.com or 507-448-2889.  

In other action, the board approved  a 2023-’24 school calendar.

They also accepted the resignation of Nicole Loken as special education teacher, effective the end of the school year.