Dist. thanks voters for bond for new school
Planning sessions to be held Dec. 5 to get community input on project
Now that Peetz School District has received voters’ approval for an $11.85 million bond they are excited to move forward on their school renovation and improvement project and will soon be seeking community input.
“We just want to say a big thank you to the community for their support and belief in us as educators to do what’s best for kids now and also in the future. We are very, very excited about having the opportunity to build a 21st-century school environment that is going to be one that can provide quality education to today’s generation and many generations to come,” Superintendent Jeff Durbin said.
The bond measure had strong support; it passed 205-100, with 67.21% of voters in favor of it.
“We’re really excited about the vote, I think the vote spoke for itself when you have two-thirds of the community that are very supportive of this project,” Durbin said.
In addition to the voters, the district is also grateful to the state for awarding them a $23 million BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today) grant and “having trust and belief in our project to do what’s right for kids,” the superintendent said, adding that they are excited to work with the state.
Now that the district knows it will have the funds to match that grant, it’s time for the design process and planning for the project to begin. While there has already been some planning done on the project, which will include a new addition with new classrooms as well as improvements to the existing gyms and ag shop, there are still plenty of decisions left to be made. In an effort to get as much community input as possible, the school will be holding planning sessions all day on Monday, Dec. 5.
“We’re hoping that everybody will come and share their thoughts and process and ideas with us in regards to what our new school should look like because this new facility is all about all of us as a group and we’re all pretty excited about looking for input from everybody that’s involved,” Durbin said.
While there is a great deal of support for the project, he hopes even those who didn’t support
the bond measure will still come on Dec. 5 to provide their input.
“We want everybody’s opinions on this because we’re a Bulldog family and we want to come together as a Bulldog family and do what’s best for everybody,” Durbin said.
Overseeing the project will be Neean Archistruction, a design-build firm out of Fort Collins, and they will be working very closely with the district’s owners rep, Chad Rayl with Cummings Group out of Yuma.
“We’re really excited about having everybody being here Dec. 5 to work with those individuals and share their ideas and communicate what their hopes and dreams for the future are, as well as today,” Durbin said.
Sessions will start at 10 a.m. and will run until 8 or 9 p.m. so that people can come at whatever time works best for their schedule.
At this time, Durbin said the district is planning to hold a groundbreaking ceremony in the middle of May with the actual groundbreaking starting soon after that. But first, they will need to deal with some electrical issues and power sources to the building and also reroute a main waterline.