First day of school looms over construction progress

With the first day of school just over a month away, work on the Early Childhood Center addition should be wrapping up soon.

The project, which began with a groundbreaking ceremony Aug. 30, 2024, is scheduled to be complete in two phases. The first, which includes offices and kindergarten classrooms, is supposed to be complete before the first day of school. The second phase, which includes preschool classrooms and a special ECC drop-off area, is slated to be done in October.

“As of today, we still have been told that [architecture firm DLR Group] plans to have phase one, as well as the office space, done,” CCSD Superintendent Deron Stender said during Tuesday’s school board meeting. “We do have contingency plans in place to be able to house students short term for both kindergarten and preschool if necessary. Hopefully we won’t have to use those contingency plans for kindergarten.”

The contingency plans include various office spaces or back rooms being converted into temporary classroom space, all on the elementary side.

“Plus, there’s some other temporary classrooms on the second floor or behind the cafeteria where the band room is, we can partition that off into two classrooms,” Stender said.

However, as construction nears the finish line on the new ECC, questions arise on what to do with the old ECC on Elm Street.

“As publicly as we can be, this building is for sale,” Stender said. “We have had several people in the last seven years that have expressed interest in this, anywhere from the hospital to other agencies. Once they conduct the audit of it and they realize what the expenses are going to be, they shy away.”

The board plans to wait until early 2026 in case any offers come in for the ECC land and building. If nothing comes, demolition can commence.

“We estimated it’s going to be about half a million or $600,000 roughly. But we planned for that, we budgeted for that,” Stender said. “In fact, our contingency plan balance can probably pay for that so that this building is no longer going to be an issue or become an eyesore for the community, and then it may become a suitable property for whatever some people are interested in.”

However, even after demolition, the board is expecting possible issues. With much of the land being a flood plain, building anything there might be difficult.

“That’s the struggle we’re going to deal with when we have this big, large vacated space that provides no utility other than the bus barn sledding hill and the beautiful playground,” Stender said. “In my dream world of thinking about it, it would see us turning it into almost an FFA plot.”

Board member Galen Zumbach suggested letting the city turn the area into a park.

“There’s nothing on this side [of town],” Zumbach said. “This would be an ideal place for a park. We move the building and give the land to the city. It would make a beautiful park.”

The board is open to suggestions from the public.

“This is where I’m hoping our community members and public will have creative or innovative ideas so that we aren’t going to create a nuisance for anybody,” Stender said. “Always open for creative ideas on how to best utilize this space.”

In other school board news...

The board approved the July 2025 list of contracts and resignations:

Resignations: Alisa Phillips, elementary art teacher; Drew Dornack, assistant tennis coach; Taylor Royster, central generalist II; Jacob Baudler, elementary para.

Contracts: Sara King, elementary and middle school art teacher; Jason Hansen, custodian.

Voluntary transfers: Taylor Royster, school business official (start of 2026-27 school year).

Retirements: Billie Jo Greene, school business official (end of 2025-26 school year).