It has been more than a quarter-century since South Sioux City Community Schools last completed a major multi-million dollar facilities upgrade.
With that thought in mind, the 130 local residents attending the final Cardinal Vision workshop decided that now is the time to play catch-up on addressing the school’s building needs for the future.
Given the choice of four options, those in attendance overwhelming favored the priciest one, totaling $127 million that will address three aging buildings and help address an ever-growing enrollment base far into the future.
Three new buildings would replace the district’s three oldest elementary school buildings — Covington, E.N. Swett and Lewis & Clark — and move sixth-grade students from the current Middle School to one of the new buildings, where they would join fifth-grade students. A new K-4 building would be built, with a third building designated for preschool students.
Tuesday’s workshop was the last in a series of five that the school has hosted during the past several months. Previous workshops showcased the age and condition of the district’s seven school buildings, and data regarding current and future enrollment numbers indicated that the district was facing an overcrowding issue in the coming years.
The plan that was under consideration consisted of a base concept with four options that would deal with a variety of issues at some or all of the district’s seven school buildings, including five elementary schools, the middle school and the high school.
The base plan called for the replacement of the district’s three oldest school buildings — Covington Elementary (100 years old), Lewis & Clark Elementary and E.N. Swett Elementary (both 64 years) — and shifting of certain grades into new buildings, with a total price tag of $109 million.
The first of the three new buildings would be a new intermediate school for grades 5-6 that would hold up to 660 students. A potential site on the northeast part of town would be where this building would be erected and would include new safety and security features and complete accessibilty.
The second building would be for grades K-4 and would replace both Covington and Lewis & Clark. The new building, with a potential site in the north or northeast part of the district, would also hold 660 students and include the same safety, security and accessibility additions as the first building.
A third building that would replace the Swett school, which would be built near the present building, would handle about 300 preschool students and also include safety, security and accessibility options.
With the base plan came four options that were considered by those in attendance, and the majority of positive responses added another $18 million to the package, bringing the plan’s total to $127 million.
That package includes a full update of all infrastructure and classroom updates in the district, additional space to handle growing capacity at Dakota City Elementary, accessibility updates at Harney and Cardinal Elementary, and provide for more program space at the high school.
More details in this week's edition of the Dakota County Star. Call (402) 494-4264 to subscribe now, or subscribe online.