GILMAN — Utilizing funds from a variety of sources, leaders in the East Marshall Community School District were able to complete several key maintenance and improvement projects at the elementary school in Laurel and the high school in Le Grand over the summer. Now, they’re preparing to pitch a $13.5 million bond issue that would “rightsize” the district into two buildings and result in the eventual closure of the century-old middle school in Gilman.

Superintendent Tony Ryan said the district made a major investment in upgrading the preschool playground at the elementary building, which was a “very, very nice improvement” both for aesthetic and safety reasons, and worked with contractor Rick Weitzell of Le Grand to do so.

“We extended the square footage for the play area, and we added new equipment and put in a safety rated surface for falls and so forth,” he said.

A new gymnasium floor has also been installed at the elementary school, and other “here and there” maintenance items were handled, including replacing classroom window air conditioners at the high school along with one at the middle school.

“We did a lot of planning with our facilities community group that met over several months over an extended period of time. We gathered a lot of feedback from them as far as the direction that they believe the community would like to go and what the community needs are, and district officials, administration (and) school board definitely wanted to be responsive to the feedback that they were getting from this community,” Ryan said. “This past 12 months, we were more in the planning stages, listening stages, ‘Where do we go from here?’ type of thing.”

The preschool playground upgrades were made possible through the 4-year-old preschool categorical fund, while the new gym floor was paid for through the Securing an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) one-cent sales tax and the air conditioner costs came out of the general fund.

“I think it’s finally coming together, and I think all of us, I had my (Building Leadership Team) together yesterday, and they’re all excited to have the kids back,” Middle School Principal Kim Tarbell said.

Looking forward to November

District officials are currently in the process of collecting the necessary signatures to place a $13.5 million bond issue on the ballot in November, and a public meeting on the topic is planned for Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the high school in Le Grand.

“Everything that we are doing is trying to focus in on a proper and appropriate learning environment for students in an environment (where) our staff can be successful as well at their professional duties and responsibilities,” Ryan said. “We want both students and staff to flourish in the environment.”

One project in progress already, he added, is asking the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) for permission to install air conditioning in the elementary gym to improve the air quality, which is currently in the planning stages of an application process. The decisions that have been made and will be made in the future, Ryan said, are guided by input from the community.

“At the end of the day, we want to take care of our kids. We want to take care of our staff and provide a learning environment that is, number one, conducive for the times, and, number two, keeping up progress. We don’t want to fall behind in progress either,” he said.

Like most rural districts — and despite a sizable boost from open enrollment out of Marshalltown — East Marshall has seen an overall decline in enrollment in recent years, with a peak of just over 900 students during the 2008-2009 school year and a number closer to 650 in 2023-2024, according to the most recent statistics from the Iowa DOE. Several nearby districts, including Marshalltown, GMG and Gladbrook-Reinbeck, are also attempting to pass bond votes, which require a 60 percent supermajority, in 2024.

Part of the conversation around the bond involved “rightsizing” the district and closing the middle school building in Gilman, the oldest of East Marshall’s three current facilities. If the vote passes, students in grades K-6 would attend classes in Laurel once construction is complete, and those in grades 7-12 would go to Le Grand. Last year, a similar bond issue in the BCLUW school district that would have closed the middle school in Union and moved all classes to the elementary and high school buildings in Conrad failed with just 43.5 percent of voters supporting it.

“There become fewer and fewer students to go around in rural districts because our environment right now in the state is (that) many families are flocking to the bigger cities or the suburbs of the bigger cities,” Ryan said. “You’re seeing booms in those areas, but our rural areas are truly losing resident students. It just is what it is as far as the dynamic and demographics.”

When considering how much it costs to operate buildings, Ryan felt that moving from three to two is an economical move aimed at getting the most out of the tax dollars the district receives. As an example, he noted that the district paid off its most recent round of general obligation (GO) bonds ahead of schedule, and the overall tax rate has dropped substantially over the last two or three years.

“Keeping that in mind and moving forward, we believe our district has definitely kept the local taxpayer in mind as we were making decisions, planning for the future and being responsible with the tax dollars that we are allotted,” Ryan said.

Signatures are still being collected to place the bond on the November ballot. Students are set to return to class at East Marshall on Aug. 23, and as previously mentioned, a public meeting is scheduled for Aug. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the high school in Le Grand with administration and board members planning to be present to answer questions.

“We want our community members to come and ask questions and get details and so forth. We truly want to hear what the community has to say as we make these decisions. We want the community to support what we’re doing,” Ryan said.

The deadline to submit a bond petition to the Marshall County Auditor/Recorder’s office is Aug. 28.