Old ECC demolition on hold

As construction nears an end on the new Creston Early Childhood Center, progress slows at the old ECC site to accommodate previous contracts.

Though students have moved to the new ECC, the Elm Street campus still houses AEA offices. The district has a lease with the AEA for that office space until 2043.

“We’ve talked about this significantly and I’m going to request that we put the demolition project on pause,” Creston Community School District Superintendent Deron Stender said. “[We] did meet with them, the AEA chief and some of these board representatives. We’ve had to talk about, what does it look like to co-exist in our facility? What does that facility look like? And so this ties in with renovating the high school.”

In order to provide office space for AEA staff, Stender said the goal would be to create more offices in the high school. Renovation of the office space would coincide with creating a safe entry point at the high school, similar to what was recently built at the ECC and elementary/middle school campus. While there is not yet a cost estimate for the project, the plan would be to begin construction in spring 2027 and be complete in August 2027.

So far, all interested purchasers for the ECC property have changed their minds after touring the building, encouraging the district to demo it. While Stender has suggested a suspension of demolition progress in order to continue housing the AEA staff until future renovations to the high school, board member Brad James expressed worry about increasing demo costs in the future.

“Every time we kick the can down the road, it costs us more,” James said.

Board member Kathy Thorne Ralston had different concerns, suggesting the board meet with parents and staff on project priorities before renovating the office space.

“We need to get out and ask our administrators and our teachers, what is [the priority]? I guess I’m particularly thinking at the high school level, but I know that was a big concern the last time,” Thorne Ralston said. “I heard a lot of people vote against the bond because they weren’t feeling like [instruction] was the priority. Before we get involved in another [project], let’s make sure that our spending priorities match our community.”

She said the safe entrance for the high school should be the priority, but suggested finding office space elsewhere in town. Stender said he appreciated the discussion and shared more information regarding office-space research done previously.

“When we were talking with AEA and looking at other spaces, we figured it’s $3,500 a month of rent, at a minimum. That’s not including going into some of the places and having to renovate it to fit our needs and the services,” Stender said. “We really don’t care about nice offices, because we’d rather have better classrooms. We’re talking about effective space utilization in that matrix, and also keep in mind long term, we know we’re having declined enrollment.”

While no decision was made regarding these discussions, the board is working to be as financially transparent as possible. Two public forums on school financing are being held to answer community questions, one tonight at 6 p.m. and another on Tuesday, April 14 at noon. Both forums will be held in the AEA boardroom at 257 Swan St.