Bond election day is Sept. 11

     The Monticello Community School District is asking voters to support the spending of a $15 million GOB (General Obligation Bond) “for the purpose of furnishing, equipping, constructing, improving, repairing, and renovating school buildings and improving the sites… including the 5-8 grade building located on the existing high school campus, energy and mechanical improvements to existing school buildings. Relocation of athletics fields and other site and improvements.”

     Aside from the $15 million 20-year GOB bond, the district is looking to spend $7 million in SAVE (Secure an Advanced Vision for Education) revenue bonds, which will not affect property taxes. Of that figure, $5 million will go toward the 5-8 building adjacent to the high school. The remaining $2 million will be used for improvements to the existing high school, as well as relocation of two softball fields to make way for the new middle school addition.

     A final public meeting was held on Aug. 29 at the high school, facilitated by MCSD Superintendent Dr. Brian Jaeger, and Roger Worm and Carly Weber with OPN Architects.

     Though it was a small gathering of community members, it was a powerful message in terms of why a new middle school is needed in Monticello.

     “In reality, we have kicked the can down the road in this district for a very long time,” said Jaeger. “We do have older buildings. Those buildings need to be addressed. As they stand, there is so much that has to be done to them.”

     So how did the district get to this point as of Sept. 11?

     It has been an ongoing process for over a year.

     Since coming to serve the MCSD as superintendent in July 2016, Jaeger said the resounding sentiment from the community and school staff has been the need for a new middle school. This brought the school board together to devise a strategic operating plan in the spring of 2017 to help guide them in future planning. Jaeger said out of that planning, several themes came about, the biggest being school facilities.

     “Something has to be done about school facilities,” he said.

     From there, in the summer of 2017, a school facilities committee was put together with 25 residents from all walks of life from Monticello: teachers, small business owners, farmers, retirees, parents of young children, and empty nesters.

     The facilities committee worked hard to poll the community in an effort to put together a facilities plan the school board and public could support and get behind.

     Throughout their work, the facilities committee toured the middle school multiple times, and several public input meetings were held in the middle school and high school.

     “We really wanted to listen to the community,” reiterated Jaeger.

     The committee researched the MCSD’s history, noting that since 1960, only one bond issue has ever passed in Monticello. That was in 1996 to build a new high school.

     “It’s a fact that bond issues are hard to pass in Monticello,” said Jaeger. “And it’s not like there’s only been one bond; it’s been tried eight or nine times.”

     After seeking public comment, the district sent out RFPs (request for proposals) to 16 different companies. The school board interviewed four of them, and awarded a contract to OPN to work with the school board and facilities committee moving forward.

     “It has been a fantastic relationship working with them,” praised Jaeger. “They’ve done a really good job of supplying us with the information that we need. They wanted to help us answer the questions.”

     After putting six or so different plans onto paper, OPN supplied the committee with dollar figures for each concept. That’s when sticker shock set in. Seeing the defeated look on the committee members’ faces, Jaeger said, “The bubble in the room just deflated.”

     The average price for each concept was around $40 million. Three years ago, the district asked voters to support a nearly $30 million bond, and it failed. They knew these ideas would not fly with the public.

     “We were trying to fix everything all at once: the elementary, the middle school, the high school,” said Jaeger. “It’s a tremendous amount of money.”

     After taking a couple weeks to ponder their next steps, the committee came back to the table and felt the biggest facility that needed attention was the middle school. “If we’re going to focus on one area, let’s focus on the middle school, grades 5-8,” said Jaeger. “It’s the oldest building. It really needs the most attention.”

     This brought them to a $20 million middle school addition at the high school site, and in the spring of 2018, the committee brought the idea to the school board for their approval. The board was in unanimous support and called for the Sept. 11 bond election.

     Before approving the 5-8 addition, the school board asked the facilities committee to showcase what a phased-out project would look like for the future of the MCSD. Phase one is spending $22 million on the addition and improvements to the high school. Phase two, in 2020, will use $2 million from SAVE to decommission the old middle school and replace the transportation center. Phase three, in 2029 when the previous bond is paid, will ask voters to support a $13 million GOB, coupled with $8 million from SAVE for a new preK-4 addition to the high school site or a site to-be-determined.

     “It really wasn’t something where someone pulled an idea out of their back pocket,” Jaeger said of the time and dedication put into the current proposal.

     The middle school addition is estimated at 63,000 square feet. The lower level will include: the administration area, building support/mechanical, locker rooms that provide support for the new auxiliary gymnasium, a classroom bay (a two-story space with classrooms around the perimeter with interior collaborative space), restrooms, multipurpose space, media center/library, fine arts, and special classrooms. The upper level: The classrooms stacked over the lower level.

     “There’s a transition space between the higher level with elevator and stairs,” explained Worm.

     He also stipulated that these plans might not necessarily be the final plans. “Taking into consideration everything that comes out of meetings like this, as we move through plan-refinement, this could likely morph into something else to a certain degree,” said Worm.

     The proposal also calls for moving the district offices into a new high school corridor. The district office building will then be turned into the Transition Program building, which is currently housed in the John McDonald Health & Education Center.

     “To put them in that building would be fantastic for us. It’s the right size for them,” shared Jaeger.

     Throughout this entire process, Jaeger has put together 18 videos pertaining to the bond issue and the need for a new middle school, to help answer any questions out there. The meeting minutes from each facilities committee meeting are available to the public. For those on the fence, Jaeger said he encourages people to do the research before Sept. 11.

     The election requires a super majority to pass, which means 60 percent plus one vote.

     “We have a small margin or error,” warned Jaeger. “So we’ve tried to be really transparent. We’ve tried to be really precise. We’ve tried to do as much as we can to get info out into the community. We want people to understand the plan and make an informed decision when they show up on Sept. 11.”