It took five years and two failed bond referendums, but Greene County High School students walked into a new building to start the school year Monday morning. The regional career academy that’s connected to the building and operated in partnership with Iowa Central Community College opened two weeks ago.
Discussion of an entirely new high school began during the winter of 2018. Voters had turned down two bond referendums that would have added space to the 1966 high school to create a building large enough for students in grades 5-12. Both requests included a new gymnasium.
The first referendum, held in Sept. 2015, was for $20 million. Voters turned that request down with a 60 percent “no” vote.
In April 2017, voters were asked to approve $19.4 million for a project very similar to the earlier proposal. That time a majority of voters – 53 percent – voted “yes”, but a 60 percent majority is required for a bond issue.
The discussion shifted during the winter of 2018 after Chris Deal started talking about the regional career academy he had seen in Pella, adjacent to Pella High School. He called building a new high school with a career academy a “crazy idea,” but he kept talking and people listened.
The competition gym had been a factor working against the earlier proposals. Deal suggested asking Grow Greene County to help fund that, and Grow Greene agreed to a multi-year commitment to the project.
Also helping the project along was the addition of MidAmerican Energy’s Beaver Creek wind farms in the county. The county supervisors agreed to initiate tax increment financing on the wind farm, with the TIF revenue going to build the career academy. Iowa Central agreed to operate the academy.
The bond referendum presented to voters in April 2018 asked for a bond issue of $21.48 million to fund a $34.1 million project. The cost of repurposing the 1966 building for grades 5-8, without adding space, was included.
Voters approved the referendum with a 68.7 percent “yes” vote.
The new high school was engineered for peak efficiency and state-of-the-art technology. There are open spaces of various sizes to provide places for students to collaborate, a needed skill in most workplaces. Natural light streams in from all directions. The building provides a setting for learning that would not have been possible if either of the earlier projects were approved.
The new gymnasium is not completed yet but will be within the next few weeks. With seating for 1,500 and space for three wrestling mats, the Iowa High School Athletic Association has promised Greene County will be a site for district tournaments.
Completion of the auditorium is slated for October. The auditorium seats 700 and will be the envy of communities across western Iowa. According to former Greene County school board member Sam Harding, who serves as owner’s rep on the project, only CY Stephens Auditorium on the Iowa State campus and Hancher Auditorium on the UI campus rival Greene County’s new auditorium in design.
The start of the school year is staggered in Greene County. Elementary students will start their year on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Middle school students will start their year in the newly-repurposed building Thursday, Sept. 10.
