Community tour visits Carpenter and middle school

   Updates, history and tours of two Monticello Community School District buildings were part of a community tour and forum held Oct. 7.

   It was an opportunity for community members to hear more about the upcoming Nov. 5 bond election, in which Monticello will decide whether to fund general obligation bonds toward the construction of a new preK-4 elementary school.

   The event drew about 25 people, who heard updates and other information from Vicki Hyland and Susan Bowersox of OPN Architects, and from Monticello Community School District Superintendent Brian Jaeger.

   Following that 30-minute presentation, the group was handed cards for a scavenger hunt-type event, in which people visited and then checked off various rooms in the Carpenter building, including the entry area, a classroom, nurse’s office, boiler room, student lockers and several more.

   People then visited Monticello Middle School to check off a similar room list. Those who checked off every item on the card were entered into a drawing for a gift card to a local restaurant.

   Hyland and Bowersox reviewed the history of the previous bond effort, talked about pricing and other factors surrounding the possible construction of a new elementary school, and took questions.

   “The goal as part of the original master plan was this vision of a one-campus school,” Bowersox said.

   “And so when we revisited the facilities committee, we asked that question again, ‘Is this still a priority, the one-campus approach?’ And it still was.”

   Hyland and Bowersox were asked about ideas taken from the new middle school that have proven successful and would likely be used if an elementary is to be built.

   Among the concepts that “worked,” they said, were the entrance, the gym, and the low lockers, which allow for students to be seen as they are moving from one class to the next.

   The gym, it was pointed out, will be the same size as the middle school gym.

   If the bond passes, the preK-4 elementary school will eventually replace Carpenter School, which was originally built in 1954; and Shannon School, 1960.

   “This is the last piece of the puzzle, as far as school facilities go,” Superintendent Brian Jaeger said.