Peetz School District Thanks Voters for Backing Bond for New School – Sterling Journal-Advocate

Now that the Peetz School District has received voter approval for an $11.85 million bond, they are excited to move forward with their school renovation and improvement project and will solicit community feedback soon.

“We just want to say a big thank you to the community for their support and trust in us as educators to do what is best for children now and also in the future. We are very, very excited to have the opportunity to build a 21st century school environment that will be able to provide quality education for today’s generation and many generations to come,” said Superintendent Jeff Durbin.

The bond measure received strong support; he went 205-100, with 67.21% of voters in his favour.

“We’re really excited about the vote, I think the vote speaks for itself when you have two-thirds of the community who are very supportive of this project,” Durbin said.

In addition to the voters, the district is also grateful to the state for awarding them a $23 million Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) grant and “for having faith and believing in our plan to do the right thing.” for children,” the superintendent said, adding that they are excited to work with the state.

Now that the district knows it will have the funds to match this grant, it is time to begin the design process and project planning. Although there has already been some planning for the project, which will include a new addition with new classrooms as well as improvements to the existing gymnasiums and agricultural workshop, there are still many decisions to be made. In order to get as much community input as possible, the school will be holding all-day planning sessions on Monday, December 5th.

“We hope everyone will come and share their thoughts, processes and ideas with us in regards to what our new school should look like, as this new facility involves all of us as a group and we are all very excited to the idea of ​​looking for feedback from everyone involved,” Durbin said.

Although there is a lot of support for the project, he hopes that even those who did not support the bond measure will still come on December 5 to contribute.

“We want everyone’s opinion on this because we’re a Bulldog family and we want to come together as a Bulldog family and do what’s best for everyone,” Durbin said.

Overseeing the project will be Neean Archistruction, a Fort Collins design-build firm, and they will work closely with District Owners Representative Chad Rayl with Cummings Group of Yuma.

“We’re so excited to have everyone here on December 5 to work with these people, share their ideas, and communicate their hopes and dreams for the future, as well as today,” Durbin said.

Sessions will start at 10 a.m. and continue until 8 or 9 p.m. so that people can come at a time that suits them best.

At that time, Durbin said the district planned to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony in mid-May, with the actual ribbon-cutting beginning soon after. But first, they will need to fix some electrical issues and the building’s power sources and also reroute a main water line.