WATERLOO, Iowa (KWWL) -- The Waterloo Community School district's school board is reviewing the new high school plan for the first time Monday night.
The November announcement includes plans to consolidate students into one brand new high school by Central Middle school in 2028. Waterloo East and Waterloo West would be transitioned into middle schools, serving up to the 9th grade.
Superintendent Dr. Jared Smith says overall, community, staff and student response has been positive.
"People are saying they’re excited about the possibilities for the students, for the staff and really for the entire community," he said, adding, "the staff they see what’s in this for kids, they know how nice it would be to have a brand new state of the art facility, and, just what a cool opportunity that would be for a kid."
Monday's meeting is the first time the board will have any kind of vote in the project. It's a request for approval to have INVISION Architecture research the current schools, and render a plan for a new school. It is not a vote to move forward with construction or approving the plan as a whole.
"It’s not like we’re going to break ground next week, it’s not like we’re committing you know, money to the overall project; it’s simply 'hey we want you to take a deeper look at this,' bring back the information, so we know exactly what we’re looking at before we move forward," Dr. Smith says.
It's important to the district to keep plans in local businesses, and they have a history with INVISION for several recent projects.
"We’ve got a great relationship with INVISION, they have done all of the work out at Central Middle, the WCC, the WCCX, central renovations, so we felt good about that partnership we wanted to keep that going with them," Smith said.
The district is planning four town halls so far in 2024- at Kittrell Elementary, the Waterloo Career Center, Poyner Elementary, and Cunningham Elementary. Dr. Smith says he hopes as many people as possible show up to learn more.
"My hope is that we can address these questions, concerns, my hope is that people will see what the vision is for our kids, our community, our hope is that they feel committed to this project," Dr. Smith says.
One of the most frequently asked questions has to do with how the district plans to pay for this project. The district has already announced it does not require a bond vote, only board approval.
"The funding, people want to know is this going to impact property tax? And this project would not impact property tax," Dr. Smith says, adding, "we’re using the one percent sales tax, we’re using basically 10 years worth of that money to fund this project."
Another frequently asked question is concerning staffing. Dr. Smith reiterating, they do not plan to cut jobs for this plan.
"We feel like we’ve got a strategy in place to adjust to make sure that we fill- all of the positions are ready to go for that 2028 opening. Meaning that nobody in this district should fear that they’ll lose their job," he explains, adding, "may some staff be in other buildings other than Central? Absolutely, they’ll be placed in other buildings. However nobody should walk away feeling like their job is in jeopardy."
Right now, the district's plan has the board officially voting on whether to approve the project in 2025, with an official opening in 2028.
Dr. Smith says if approved, this plan will be one of a kind.
"We have an opportunity for this district to do something that really hasn’t been seen in the state of Iowa. The scope of this project, how many students are going to be impacted, the ability to meet the career needs of our students, is just unheard of, it’s unparalleled." he concluded.
You can watch the full meeting at this link.