Our facilities committee met last in October of 2019 and agreed to what our next steps would be for our facilities. Taking advantage of land we already own, and responding to the overwhelming support from the survey given in the spring for keeping the schools in close proximity, the committee agreed that building on the East Athletic Campus made the most sense. Though we are probably 3-5 years from building, the picture below shows the ideas we discussed in the meeting. It includes:

• a two-story building for grades PK-2 or 3

• extending the school lane off R16 for a bus drop off

• using the current lane for car entry

• possibly acquiring land from the city and American Legion to do a joint project with the city of Van Meter and the Legion for a turf field and shared parking lot for soccer and secondary and elementary practices of multiple sports (the district does not own this land.)

• a bridge connecting the Legion and the District properties (image not shown)

• maintain the land east of the practice football field for another potential building in the future.

The timing of the future building will depend on our bonding capacity and debt limit. We have to pay down current debt so we have the debt limit to support another building project. This will take the district a few years. Once we have enough debt limit that would allow us to build a new building, we would need voters to support a bond issue before we could erect a new structure. Again, we anticipate this taking place a few years from now.

If you have any questions, please contact me at deron.durflinger@vmbulldogs.com or call (515) 996-2221.