Iowa Valley plans for summer construction

MARENGO — Iowa Valley School Board approved several contracts for continued construction on the elementary, junior high and high schools this summer.

Bids are coming in at or below amounts budgeted by the district, said Superintendent Curt Rheingans.

The district is getting rid of the mulch on the elementary playground and replacing it with turf. The school board accepted the low bid from Rainbow of the Heartland for $315,496. Other bids came in at $319,250 and $323,101.

“It’s under what we were thinking,” Rheingans told the school board. “At one time we were budgeting $400,000.”

The board approved a $22,382 contract with Poindexter Flooring to install flooring in the band room and the senior lounge. “That’s right on budget as well,” said Rheingans.

A local concrete company donated labor to make the band room floor flat, said Rheingans.

The school board approved a bid of $67,012 from ABcreative to install shade and shelter at the baseball and softball fields. The company will also install the new elementary playground, Rheingans said.

The only other bid received was from Boland Recreation for $55,234, but it didn’t include installation of poles and hanging the shade protectors, said Rheingans. That would add $40,000 to the bid.

Rheingans said the shades and shelter should be installed within 10 weeks, which will be close to the start of baseball and softball season.

Beebe’s Hardwood Floors will sand the gymnasium floor, paint and reseal it for $32,415. The district reseals the floor every year, said Rheingans.

This might be the last time the gym floor can be sanded before it has to be replaced, according to Rheingans. The cost of replacement would be about $130,000, he said.

Classroom furniture, whiteboards and cabinets will be installed by Premier Furniture for $395,600, and two rooms of carpeting at the elementary school — the counselors room and conference room -- will cost the school district $4,085. Poindexter Flooring will complete the latter job.

The District’s facilities projects, which are paid for partly by the issuance of bonds approved by voters in March of 2023, was meant to be a three-year project, said Rheingans, but it may all be finished a year earlier than expected.

Voters approved the $10.6 million bond referendum to pay for the renovations to the school in 2022. The bond issue needed 60% to pass, but 73% of voters approved the measure.

“We stood behind what we said, and we did what we promised,” said high school principal Janet Holst-Behrens during the March school board meeting.

The sweeping renovations affect every student in some way, she said.

The district is hiring companies directly for each part of the renovation. Rheingans said that acting as its own general contract has saved the school district money.

Calendar

The school board also approved the 2025-2026 school calendar this month.

Students won’t get two full weeks for Christmas vacation next year but will have two days off in the fall.

Rheingans surveyed the staff, and more employees wanted the two-day fall break even though it shortened Christmas break to eight days, Dec. 24 through Jan. 2.

“It was really close,” said Rheingans during the February school board meeting. “It wasn’t a slam dunk,” but the two-day fall break won out.

Christmas fell on Wednesday in 2024, so taking two full weeks was more practical. “This was ideal for the two weeks,” said Rheingans last month. “But it doesn’t always happen that way.”

Long breaks are not always quality times for the students, said elementary school principal Liesl Yunek during the February school board meeting. Some kids are “going hungry a lot.”

The new calendar doesn’t change the five-day spring break in March. The staff likes that, said Rheingans.