CONTRIBUTED GRAPHICS — Renderings from Emergent Architecture show the entrances to the BCLUW elementary and junior/senior high school buildings in Conrad after a construction project estimated to cost $7.2 million is completed by the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year. It would also result in the closure of the current 5-8 middle school building in Union.

CONRAD — About a year after a controversial bond referendum failed at the polls, BCLUW Superintendent Ben Petty and the board of education are moving forward with a smaller scale project that will improve the current elementary and high school buildings in Conrad while still ultimately reducing the total number of district buildings from three to two by closing the middle school in Union.

According to a press release issued Monday, BCLUW leaders have been working with Emergent Architecture on plans and designs, and Petty hopes the project will go out for bids before the end of the calendar year. Construction is expected in 2025 and 2026, and the goal is to complete the transition to a two-building district — grades PK-6 would attend the current elementary school, while grades 7-12 would be served at the current high school — by the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year.

“If we make these renovations and new construction at the elementary and high school, we certainly feel like it’s gonna make that transition go a lot smoother and be better for students,” Petty said.

The engineer’s estimate for construction costs is about $7.2 million, and with design fees and soft costs added, the overall expense should land somewhere between $7.8 and $7.9 million.

“They’re still in some of the late design stages, so we know that’s gonna be refined just a little bit before the board actually approves the project,” Petty said.

Although the bond issue fell well short of the needed 60 percent supermajority as just 43.5 percent of voters supported it, the superintendent explained that the district can utilize a combination of reserve funds and borrowing against the Securing an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) one cent sales tax dollars and Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) funds they receive from the state each year. The board already held a public hearing on the borrowing process a few months ago, and Petty said they’re “good to go” from that angle.

The list of the biggest proposed improvements at the elementary building include new office space with a secure building entrance, a new cafeteria/commons with serving area (which will also separate that use from the current elementary gym) that can double as a storm shelter, office space being partly repurposed into smaller classrooms and modernizing the front entrance with new signage and lighting.

At the high school, a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) classroom space will be built, including an Agricultural Sciences classroom and Flex Classroom that may be used for a variety of other classes. Security enhancements will be installed at the entrance, including the office and front entryway, as well as for students transitioning between the main building and the CTE classrooms. Other improvements to the area between the primary building and CTE area, including redoing and bringing the ADA ramp up to current code, will be completed, and a small outdoor patio area accessible from the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) classroom will be constructed, which may also be used for school/community functions and outdoor classroom space. An additional competition gym to the west side of the building, along with a concessions room and changing rooms will be built, and the front entrance will be “modernized” with new signage and lighting.

Some of the aspects that have been removed from the larger project voters rejected last November — which would have paired $8.8 million in General Obligation (GO) bonds with $4.6 million in School Infrastructure, Sales, Services, and Use Tax Revenue bonds — include building new locker rooms and restrooms at the northeast end of the high school to be accessible from the football field and the track as well as the construction of additional classrooms at the elementary.

And while this project is significantly smaller than the one a successful bond vote would have financed, Petty is happy that it will address safety and security measures at both buildings in Conrad and also adds a CTE wing with a special focus on agricultural sciences.

The primary impetus for the changes being proposed, as Petty explained both last year and recently, is continued declining enrollment at BCLUW. At the turn of the century, the district was serving nearly 700 students, but that number has dropped to around 450 according to the latest numbers from the Iowa Department of Education. The middle school in Union, which currently serves grades 5-8, is the oldest of the district’s three buildings as it was constructed in the 1960s.

“The board and I know that this has been a difficult conversation to have, and certainly it’s difficult when you close a school building in one of your communities. But we feel like it’s gonna be a necessary step for BCLUW to continue to be strong financially and to offer good programming for our students,” Petty said. “We’re gonna have to make some reductions as we see class sizes moving into the 30s and then into the 20s as they move through the system. Changes are gonna have to be made, and we’re certainly hopeful that our school district can come together and support BCLUW and keep it a strong district going for many years to come.”

Emergent is expected to present the plans for the board’s approval at its Oct. 21 meeting.