Local News
Starting anew: Davis County school board members excited to get new high school started
BLOOMFIELD — Davis County School Board members officially broke ground on the new high school Thursday evening.
School board members and community supporters attended the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday across from the current high school to start the project that was about five years in the making.
The project for a new high school has been turned down twice by Davis County voters in the past few years. School board members are excited to finally get the project going. The new facility will be built using state SILO tax money. The funds for the facility was secured via revenue bonds.
“It’s been a long journey,” said Davis County Superintendent Sam Miller. “But I think it’s been a worthwhile journey.”
Construction will get going within a month. The new facility will be ready for students and teachers sometime in the fall of 2010, Miller said.
The new high school will be right across the street from the current facility. Davis County School Board member Rob Melvin said the current high school needed a lot of improvements, so why not build a new one?
“We’ve been down a few different roads, and we decided that this was the best spot economically,” said Melvin.
Hopefully, the new facility will also bring more people to the area, said Susan Knapp, a school board member.
“Somebody looking to move in is going to see a new school,” Knapp said.
The gymnasium, music room and wrestling room in the current high school will continue to be used after the new school is built. No decisions have been made in what will be done with the rest of the facility, which was built in the 1920s, said Miller.
Classrooms in the new building will be almost twice the size of the rooms now, and the new facility will have full handicapped accessibility.
With the new building also comes increased energy efficiency, which will lead to “significant savings” in energy costs, Miller said.
“We’re trying to provide our students with a 21st Century education,” Miller said. “The new facility, we think, is going to meet the community’s needs for a long time.”
Though there has been community support for the new facility, other local taxpayers feel differently.
One resident recently withdrew his “request for judgment” to the district using state SILO tax money to build a new facility. Though the legal suit was dropped, some still fear the bonding process and believe local taxpayers may have to pay for part of the bill.
Pat Shaver can be reached at (641) 683-5360 or by e-mail at p.shaver@ottumwacourier.com.
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