Danville, Iowa, schools will get some much-needed improvements, thanks to Danville residents who voted in favor of an $8.9 million general obligation bond.
At the close of the special election Tuesday, 63.29% of the 700 ballots were in favor of the bond, exceeding to super-majority approval vote required of Iowa school districts.
"It goes out to the support of the community and how much they care about their kids, and they know that we need to make some changes and need to grow a little bit," said Superintendent Thomas Ward. "This was a grassroots effort. It took a lot of people going house to house and ringing doorbells, making telephone calls."
In contrast to the past two referendums put forth by the school district -- both of which were for about $4.1 million, focused solely on the elementary school and were rejected by voters -- this bond includes improvements, upgrades and remodeling at both the elementary and junior and senior high schools, a decision that was made by Ward and the building committee after taking last year to evaluate the facilities and what was needed.
"The growth down there, we needed to do some things because of security, open-concept classroom, but the last issues didn't address those bigger classes coming into the high school, and we've already grown three sections in the seventh grade," Ward said. "So we felt like we were going to have to put a plan in place that was going to address the education of our kids for the next 20 to 25 years."
The district serves 228 open-enrolled students this year, up from last year's open enrollment population of 208, and bringing the total number of students to 730. The money each open-enrolled student brings with them to the district goes toward teacher salaries, curriculum, learning supports and instructional materials. Ward said previously the district needs to be prepared to accommodate an average class size of 53.
The bond will enable the addition of three classrooms at the junior and senior high school, renovation of the Ag/Industrial Tech building, relocation of the art and music classrooms, the addition of a new office, conference room, upgraded security in the office and the renovation of two other areas into classroom space.
At the elementary building -- where several classrooms are separated only by partitions instead of walls, allowing sound to carry easily from classroom to classroom -- the bond will allow the addition of 6 1/2 classrooms as well as renovation of the open classrooms. It also will be used to renovate a teacher workroom into classroom space, relocate the playground area, add 37 new spaces to the elementary parking lot and construct an upgraded, secure entrance for the elementary building.
The tax impact will be an additional $2 per $1,000 taxable valuation, meaning a $50,000 home will see an annual increase of $45.92, or a monthly increase of $3.83. Agricultural land owners will pay an additional $2.13 per acre per year.
Having gained the community's permission to issue the bond, the district now with work with Carl A. Nelson and an architect to work up design and construction plans. Department heads at the high school will be consulted about how to relocate classrooms.
Ward said ground could be broken as early as spring. He also said work may have to be phased in at different parts of the year.
"I'm just really excited for the community," Ward said. "I can't say enough about the Danville community and how accepting they are. I knew from day one, when my wife and I moved here, that they care about kids."
Ward, who has been in education 45 years, is in his second year as superintendent for Danville. The last bond issue he was involved in was for a sports complex in Missouri 15 years ago.
"I can honestly say that this is the happiest I've been in quite awhile, because I've always had to close down buildings, and now I get to build buildings," Ward said. "So it feels good. It's going to be a good phase for me."
