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GLENVILLE — The Glenville-Emmons School Board talked next steps Monday on how the district will move forward after a referendum for a new school failed earlier this month.

The referendum asked voters to authorize the sale of general obligation building bonds not to exceed $37.42 million “for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities including, but not limited to, the construction of a new PK-12 school.”

When the vote came back, 579 people voted in favor, while 715 voted against. Of those numbers, Glenville voters supported the referendum by a vote of 555 “yes” votes to 370 “no” votes, while only 24 voters in Emmons supported the effort, and 345 voted against it.

The current high school was built almost 70 years ago, while the elementary building is over 50 years old, and school administration said the new building is needed because the current buildings were run down, citing needs for major repairs.

School board Chairwoman Lisa Hajek thanked the community for the engagement and discussion as the board and administration attempted the referendum.

Though the referendum did not pass, she said the board will continue to engage the community as it explores what it can do better, albeit differently, as it moves forward.

“We owe it to the kids to give them the best learning environment in the Glenville-Emmons School District,” Hajek said.

The meeting, with about 50 residents in the audience, was held in the school gym to allow for more space than the school’s media center. There is no air conditioning in the school, and large fans were running in an attempt to cool the space down.

Hajek said the district will continue to partner with consultant firm SitelogIQ and will conduct a community-wide survey to look at things such as why people voted the way they did, what was liked or disliked, people’s tax tolerance and the potential timing of another referendum.

They will take the survey results and conduct community listening sessions in both the Glenville and Emmons communities about the past process and what the future process would look like. They will then take the survey results and information from the listening sessions and come back to the board.

She said they will also reach out about a smaller potential task force to look at things such as the project scope. The task force, which has not been arranged yet, will provide recommendations on next steps.

A few people in the audience asked what was going to happen with the current buildings in the meantime, as there are repairs that need to be made, and they questioned whether the buildings were safe for students.

Board member Tabitha Page said after the board meets with SitelogIQ, they will look at how to address some of the issues in the current buildings with some of the district’s long-term maintenance funds, which had about $300,000.

Jeff Tietje, pre-kindergarten through 12th grade principal, said with the referendum not passing, the district will have to put a little longer-lasting fixes on the building than it may have otherwise, and it would focus on the worst areas first.

He said there are not only issues with roofs but also boilers and other concerns. He noted the district can’t spend the whole maintenance fund and then be without a way to fix something in the event it were to break in the middle of the school year.

He also noted that as a school district, they are required to accept the lowest bids on work done, though they would like to stay as local as possible.

Questions also came up about the proposed costs that were voted on, as well as the costs needed if all of the repairs were to instead be fixed on the existing buildings. A figure was not given on the total cost of repairs needed.

A lot of discussion also centered around the role of Glenville and Emmons in the district.

One person in the audience described the relationship in the communities as “a marriage that’s gone bad,” and questioned whether a divorce of the two communities would solve a lot of problems. He also questioned how much money was going out of the district when Emmons students open-enroll to Lake Mills.

Hajek said currently when a seventh through 12th-grade student open-enrolls to Lake Mills, the Glenville-Emmons district still gets about $1,009 per pupil.

Board member Kris Houg said he hoped there would be multiple committees that could form to help moving forward, including people who could look into funding options or write grants and others who could be on a building committee.

Hajek said on that note, the board is looking at adding additional study sessions for the board in addition to its regular monthly meetings as it works toward building repairs and coming forward with another potential referendum.

In other action, the board denied a request for two students to open-enroll to the Lake Mills school district.

The father of the children said he lived by Emmons and was only about five minutes from Lake Mills. He said he gained primary custody of his children in June and the children’s grandparents would be nearby in Lake Mills.

Before the vote, Hajek said the board is looking into whether continuing open enrollment with Lake Mills is in the best interest of the district.

She said if any changes were to be made, nothing would go into effect this school year.