Glenwood Board Of Education Approves Revenue Bond

 After weeks of discussion and a pair of heavily attended public hearings, the Glenwood Community School District is officially moving forward with plans to construct a new building it hopes will answer its pressing infrastructure needs.

The Glenwood Board of Education voted 4-1 to seek a revenue bond “not to exceed $5 million” at a special meeting last Monday at the district’s central office on the Glenwood Resource Center campus. The bond will pay for construction of new building on a plot of land the district owns north of the high school. While the financial language of the bond resolution was approved at a maximum of $5 million, the board has agreed to bond for $4.25 million.

Prior to the bond’s approval, the board faced heavy pressure from the community – at a pair of standing room only public hearings and on social media – on its plans for a new building and how they planned to pay for it. The board’s decision to seek the revenue bond coming so soon after last November’s failed $39.9 million bond issue and voter rejection of an extension to the Revenue Purpose Statement extension in March has been a recurring criticism.

Glenwood Superintendent Dr. Devin Embray shrugged off that criticism or the pressure played a part in reducing the bond asking from $5 million to $4.25 million. That was always the board’s intention, he said, when it was determined that the Kids Place portion of the project would have cost $750,000. 

“The frustrating part is that it might appear this was something the board was forced to do when this was our plan all along,” Embray said. “Once we knew what our costs were, we weren’t going to bond for more than we needed. It was implied by some we were going to still bond for $5 (million) and use the money to build out for Kids Place and that is now what we said we were going to do. In some sense it hopefully does build trust back from the people we lost it from for whatever reason.”

Following the vote, Board President Matt Portrey said, “The way you build trust is you say you’ll do something and you follow through.”

Board member Elizabeth Richardson was the lone dissenting vote on the bond. During the meeting she cited her concerns about the $4.25 being enough should construction overages or delays occur.

Embray is confident the bond amount is sufficient.

“It’s enough to do the project with contingencies,” he said adding, the district plans to pursue grants to further offset costs as well. “We’re very smart about what we’re doing in terms of what we’re building and what the finishes will be so I think we’ll be O.K.”

The building itself will be a two-story, 38,000 square foot, pre-fabricated structure designed to address the programming and office space the district will need when the GRC campus closes later this year. The 103 Central building on the GRC campus currently houses the district’s administrative office, THRIVE alternative high program and the Kids Place daycare. The district does have a lease to remain as a tenant in that building through 2025.

The building will house the district’s administration offices and THRIVE as well as the district’s food service and technology departments and the planned career academy and innovation center.

Kids Place is not part of the new building plan. The board voted 4-1 at its April 1 meeting to reduce the scope of the project and remove Kids Place from the revenue bond language while keeping the size of the planned new building the same. The cost to build out that portion of the building that would have housed Kids Place was estimated at $750,000. That space will now be used for storage.

The district plans to send the revenue bond out for competitive bid in May. KPE, the district’s Nebraska-based architects, conceptually designed the building from a “pre-fabricated spec,” meaning the steal building will be largely built off site by a manufacturer and then constructed on the site. Construction of the building is expected to take 12-18 months.

Embray said he has been assured by KBE the project size and scope came be completed in that timeline and at the $4.25 million price tag. It’s expected the building could be ready by the start of the second semester in the 2025-2026 school year.

The board’s approval to seek the $4.25 revenue bond comes after sometimes contentious discussions between the board and district voters who showed up in droves at the two public hearings to both voice their displeasure with another bond and the board’s controversial decision to excise Kids Place from the new building plan.

Kids Place currently has more than 70 children enrolled with another 70 on the waiting list.

A half dozen parents who rely on Kids Place spoke at Monday’s meeting. Most shared the success stories of the facility and the lack of alternative daycare options in the community. Many asked the board to reconsider their decision.

The prior meeting saw the board taking heavy criticism for its rising budget and the increasing burden on taxpayers.

The future of Kids Place moving forward very much remains a question mark. The facility will shut its doors on the GRC campus in 2025. Without a private donor, the daycare that has served as a self-sustaining, fees-based affordable childcare option and a school district tenant for more than three decades, will cease operations.

There is, however, movement behind the scenes already researching options to save the program, according to Embray. A Kids Place parent group has been formed with the intent of securing the necessary funding, either through private donors or grants, to continue operating in the new building.

Embray is optimistic the group can get that done.

“They are heavily engaged and meeting trying to figure out ways to raise money,” Embray said. “They’ll be writing several grants. They’re highly motivated. I think they’re going to be successful doing that.

“We’ve supported kids as a program for 33 years. We were doing daycare before daycare was cool. We’ve been doing it for a long time, longer than a lot of districts. To lose it is really hard so we’re hoping the parents can provide the dollars necessary.”
Embray went on to say the group’s intention is to raise the money within the timeframe of construction.

“The cost to build out the Kids Place portion after it’s complete could be higher than the estimated $750,000,” he said.