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Last August, a group of community volunteers recommended to the Glenville-Emmons school board to move forward with a plan to build a new school building. During February’s school board meeting, the board accepted and approved the recommendation.

“This whole process started back in the winter of ’21,” said Brian Shanks, superintendent of Glenville-Emmons Schools, referring to the committee composed of people of a variety of ages and backgrounds.

To that effect, the district partnered with SitelogIQ — formerly known as Unesco — in 2016 to examine buildings and facilities after a previous school administration brought them in to do a study, which determined something needed to be done.

At that time, plans were put on hold after a former administration decided there wasn’t the “appetite” for constructing a new building. But in 2021, Shanks and the board decided to reexamine the project based on the district’s current facilities.

So SitelogIQ and the committee toured the buildings and put out surveys, among other things.

“The original recommendation was in August ’22,” he said. “The committee came to the board meeting and said, ‘After doing our work, after doing our studies, after doing our surveys, something needs to be done with the facilities.’”

Shanks and the company started exploring two options: reparations to the current buildings or building a new one.

The community group held meetings, asked questions and examined costs before presenting to the board two months ago. 

According to Shanks, the best option for the district was building a new pre-K through 12th-grade building.

“The majority of the major systems in specifically the high school are over 50 years old,” he said. “We have original boilers, we have a roof, the windows, the lighting, the plumbing are all original to the building.”

In other words, major systems within buildings such as heat and electricity. Lighting, heating and cooling efficiency was also important.

Shanks was also worried about the security of school buildings and classrooms.

“The facilities are old — they’re old and they need to be either updated, which we decided was not a good use of taxpayers’ money.” he said. “ We know what we’re getting with a brand-new [building], so this is the route we’re going.”

And the committee felt students, staff and the community needed better. Shanks said he thought now was the time to do something, and he was asked by the board to return to the project and gather community feedback.

Shanks said specifics of what a new building could look like have yet to be determined, noting approval of a bond referendum would be discussed at Monday’s school board meeting.

At that point, the district will begin its information campaign and plan to hold meetings, which will last until Aug. 8.

If a bond referendum is passed in August, the next step would be to gather feedback from community members, teachers and students, specifically on what they would want in a new building.

“This is truly going to be a community school,” he said. “We’re hoping to build a building that would be conducive to the community coming and using it for a variety of things, not just a school.”

He’s also aware of the fact not everyone has received the pertinent information, and admitted information has gone out to parents and families that attend the district.

“There are some, probably quite a few, land owners that haven’t received the information, but the only way we have to do that is to send out information, mail it out,” he said.

For more information on the proposed project, visit the school’s website at geschools.com. Shanks has also sent out newsletters to parents and families within the district. 

If the bond referendum passes and a new building is constructed, Shanks said the current high school would be torn down (the new building would be constructed on the same property), though he didn’t know what would happen to the elementary building.

“Worst case scenario it’d be torn down, best case it would be somebody or somebodies that would want to purchase the building for use within the Glenville-Emmons district,” he said.

He was also cognizant of how a project of that magnitude could potentially affect the academic calendar, but according to Shanks, SitelogIQ was aware of the fact the current building needed to stay operational until a new building — estimated to be one floor and 81,000 square feet — was ready.

The school calendar could be compressed slightly so students would get out earlier, and admitted the project wasn’t simply a “summer job,” but instead a process. 

“When we set up our community meetings in May we’ll have a general rendering of some ideas for the classrooms, for open space, for gymnasiums, for things like that, but we’re not building a 10,000-seat amphitheater,” he said. “We want to build a general, basic school that will serve the community for the next 50 years.”

His goal would be to have the building ready for use by the fall of 2026, with construction tentatively planned to begin in 2024. 

He also said he wasn’t at liberty to divulge the cost of the work, which would be funded in part by the state’s Ag2School Tax Credit as well as taxpayers.

But he admitted one of the biggest challenges the project faced was cost and having to stand in front of the community and explain why it was in their best interest to spend millions on a new building.

“After being here and going through the process, I strongly believe that this is the only option, the true option that we have that will best use the taxpayers money and to set the communities of Glenville and Emmons up for another 50 years,” he said, adding that because this would be a one-time deal, the proposed work needed to be done correctly.

While he was cautiously optimistic a bond referendum proposal would pass, Shanks wasn’t sure what would happen if the proposal does not, adding the district would look at their long-term facilities funds to see what could be done.

He also encourages anyone who has questions to ask, attend community meetings, visit the district’s website, stop by the school and call.

“Get the facts,” he said. “I’ve said that about any referendum. If the taxpayers ask the questions, get the real facts — not something people made up out in the community — and then they decide, ‘You know what, I just can’t support this,’ I respect their right to vote however they see fit.

“But before you do that I ask that [voters get all the information], find out why.” 

The next school board meeting is at 6 p.m. Monday in the media center at the secondary building at 230 Fifth St. SE, Glenville.

There are currently 250 students in the Glenville-Emmons district.