East Mills’ facilities on schedule for fall 2024 opening

This time next August, students and teachers will walk into what will essentially be a brand new East Mills K-12 building.

In an interview last week with The Opinion-Tribune, East Mills Community Schools Superintendent Tim Hood said the $22 million renovation and addition to the school is on budget and on schedule to be completed in August 2024.

“We are confident we will meet the opening for the fall of 2024 so that’s what we’re shooting for,” Hood said. “We’re very confident that will happen.”

Work began on the facility last October. But rain early this summer did cause some “jockeying” around of construction schedules. Since, there have been no major setbacks thus far, according to Hood.

“We are either relatively caught up in areas or running ahead of schedule in others,” he said.

Omaha-based Boyd Jones is the construction management firm coordinating the more than 15 different subcontractors working on the project. Omaha-based firm Alley Poyner Macchietto is the project architect while Piper Sandler handled the bond financing.

As was the case during the last school year, construction work will continue into the 2023-2024 school year with students and teachers working around contractors.

East Mills Middle/High School Principal Dale Scott said communication in any facilities project, especially one with as many moving parts as this one, is key to staying on schedule and maintaining safety.

“We had to flip some things around with the new parking lot so we’re trying to communicate with our community when they happen so we can get the feedback about what to expect,” he said. “I think we’ve done that fairly well. The thing that we and Boyd Jones continue to hit on as we head back to school, is safety. We need to make sure kids and teachers and cars and buses are going to the right area and are clear of construction areas.”

Hood agreed. Safety is the No. 1 priority.

“I think overall we want people to please be patient with us as we work through this process because anytime you’re dealing with construction, things don’t always go as planned and we may need to adjust on the fly,” Hood said.

The school’s current middle-high school campus footprint has already begun to take shape with parking now on the north side of the building, allowing the south side for the new elementary addition.

The renovation to the existing junior-senior high building is the first in over a decade at the school. The improvements include a new a gymnasium and weight room, common space and improved school office and secure entrances. In all, the renovations and expansion will double the size of the current building.

Upgrades to the building’s ADA accessibility and campus athletic fields, parking lots and site access are also planned.

In most ways, the building and campus will be a “whole new school,” Hood said.

“There will be a few classrooms that aren’t being completely renovated but are being revamped to match the new renovation,” he said.

The finished school will have two sections of every class and capacity for  more than 750 students.

“I think just the ability to put everyone on one campus going to be great for all the community,” Scott said. “I think communication is going improve for us as a district. Just be able to offer a new facility is going to make East Mills a very attractive landing spot for families down the road.”

With construction in-progress in Malvern, the district’s plans to convert its current elementary school campus located along Highway 34 into the East Mills Regional Center for Career Technical Education (SWITCH) recently received a shot in the arm. The district’s career and technical education center and its partners at Iowa Western Community will use the $1 million Department of Education Career Academy Incentive Fund grant to remodel and equip the facility to serve as a regional hub providing technical training for students in the East Mills as well as several other southwest Iowa school districts.

SWITCH is slated to also open in Fall of 2024 with multiple programs.

An open house is set for this Aug. 31 to introduce the public to the program and show off one of the SWITCH classrooms.

Hood said the district would like to begin offer programming in its initial SWITCH classroom this Fall but the Spring appears more likely.

“I’ve said from the get go, I believe this new facility in Malvern and the SWITCH program moving forward, I think East Mills will become a jewel of this part of the state,” Hood said. “I really believe that.”