Williamsburg scales back bond project

At its regular monthly board meeting Aug. 13, the Williamsburg School Board was presented with a petition supported by the required number of signatures to call an election on a general obligation bond issue as part of the Nov. 4 general election.

The language set to appear on the ballot in November is as follows:

Shall the board of directors of the Williamsburg Community School District in the Counties of Iowa and Johnson, State of Iowa, be authorized to contract indebtedness and issue General Obligation Bonds in an amount not to exceed $7,945,000 to provide funds to construct, furnish, and equip additions to the Junior/Senior High School building for industrial technology/agriculture and family and consumer science education programming; to remodel, repair, improve, furnish and equip portions of the existing Junior/Senior High School building; and improve a site used for parking?

You might remember that last November, the district proposed a $22.3 million bond issue. Voters determined that series of projects and associated costs wasn't the best route for the district.

This past May, the district received 713 responses to a survey that asked for feedback for a scaled-back scope of work, totaling about $16 million. The responses indicated that the cost of the projects were the primary barrier to support, and that package of projects and costs was unlikely to receive the 60% support necessary in November.

With that information, the district worked with their design team at Emergent Architecture and their Construction Management team at Miron to draft a series of projects that decrease the overall cost, while still making progress on identified facilities needs in the district.

These projects are now set to appear on the ballot in November.

First, the cost: The district is proposing projects totaling $7.945 million, down from $22.3 last November, and $16 million proposed in the survey this past May.

Second, the projects:

Adding about 6,000 square feet of shop space to the industrial technology and agriculture education area;

Renovating the existing ag education and industrial tech space (already about 10,000 square feet), doubling the area available for welding, and increasing the classroom space for ag education from a little over 800 feet to about 1900 feet;

Adding on about 3,000 square feet to the front of the junior/senior high school building for family and consumer science education, including both commercial and residential style culinary labs;

Renovating the entry to Messer Auditorium to serve as a community cafe area that will allow students to prepare for and serve at events, providing real-world hospitality/food service experiences, as well as provide a service to the community;

Renovations to existing classrooms, including modifying the existing family and consumer science classroom to serve as a Level III special education class, that will be better equipped to prepare students who need life skills kinds of support to prepare for the world after Williamsburg High School;

Because the industrial technology and agriculture education addition will be attached to the existing shop, a portion of the west parking lot will be used. In order to account for lost parking, the district will propose some hard surface parking across the street from the greenhouse.

You'll notice that the projects still align with those proposed in the past, but the scope has been narrowed down. We think of these projects as "Learning for Life" and believe they'll have a really positive impact on our students, staff, and community.

How can you learn more about these projects?

Over the course of the next several weeks, leading up to Nov. 4, we'll schedule open houses at the junior/senior high school, make ourselves available at home athletic and fine arts events, release a website and include district-wide mailers, in addition to sharing information through our blog, which will be posted on Facebook and delivered to district families and staff.

Our intention is to share the information necessary for you to make an informed decision Nov. 4.

If you'd like to help spread the word about the bond issue, feel free to call Chad Garber at 319-461-7484 or 319-668-1059 or email chadgarber@williamsburg.k12.ia.us for more information.

If an organization or group is willing to host a meeting, reach out to me, and I'd be happy to schedule some time to do that.

We're excited about the potential these projects have in our district, and look forward to visiting with you about them in the coming weeks.