January 28, 2026
Local NewsState & National

O-M building sold to city of Orient

School district keeps working to improve the facility

By Orient-Macksburg CSD
Orient-Macksburg's school board met jointly Monday night with the Orient City Council. The city expressed its formal interest in the school building once it is up for sale and the school district has dissolved. Involved parties are going to continue moving forward on what agreements may look like if the school is sold to the city.

Orient-Macksburg approved the sale of the school facility to the city of Orient upon dissolution occurring July 1. (Nick Pauly)

At their most recent meeting, the Orient-Macksburg school board, following a public hearing, approved to sell the school property to the city of Orient.

Orient-Macksburg has been doing improvements to the one-story elementary portion of its facility, as well as the gymnasium, in preparation for when the city takes ownership on or before July 1. Some of these improvements include exterior doors in five classrooms and a sidewalk on the south side of the elementary. A boiler has been purchased for the building because the existing boiler was located in the three-story portion of the building that will be razed. An air conditioning unit for the gym will be installed this spring.

The board is working in cooperation with the city in making additional improvements to the building. New trophy display cases have been purchased for trophies and other memorabilia to be located in the lunchroom. Other projects being considered include continued improvements to the playground area and mini splits for the elementary wing to areas without air conditioning. The school board has been able to pay for these projects with building funds such as the physical plant and equipment levy, the public education and recreation levy and Secure an Advanced Vision for Education dollars. Generally speaking, the building fund accounts were approved by voters of the district and cannot be used to pay for salaries or benefits per Iowa Code.

“One of our harder decisions the school board was faced with is what to do with the three-story high school building. I feel we can all agree the high school building is a beautiful, well-built building. While being beautiful and well built, it does not change the fact that the building is over 100 years old with a flat roof and is very expensive to operate.The decision has been made to tear down the building,” O-M Board President Jana Scott said. “We are all very aware this will not be a popular decision, and we did not take it lightly. Public safety and learning from other towns in Iowa that left their schools intact that are now an eyesore is something that helped us make this decision.”

Scott continued, saying funding for the razing of the three-story structure is also coming from building funds that are raised through property taxes paid by local school district property owners.

“We felt it best for that money to stay in the community. Work has begun in preparation to demolish the three-story building; the asbestos has been removed,” Scott said. “The building is scheduled to come down starting in February. Please respect the contractors as they work. We will continue to do more work at the elementary and gym as money and time allows. The city of Orient and Betterment Committee are working on a plan for the building. You can expect more information from their organizations as more detailed plans are ready for release.”

Scott said the public is welcome to reach out to her with any questions.