Jaeger: Bond issue could come sooner than some think

   Nearly five years have gone by since the September 2018 bond issue passed, allowing for the construction of a new Monticello Middle School.

   Is it time to start preparing for another one, in hopes of securing funding for a new elementary school?

   Monticello Schools Superintendent Brian Jaeger thinks so.

   Jaeger reported on his thoughts during a work session of the Monticello School Board Aug. 9.

   Curious about what the district’s bonding capacity would be today, Jaeger recently contacted Travis Squires of Piper Sandler Finance. Squires said he would have firmer numbers after the first of the year, but estimated that it might be in the neighborhood of $25 million.

   That led Jaeger to contact Roger Worm of OPN Architects to see if that firm could estimate what it might cost to build a new elementary school. Again, a solid estimate is months away, but Jaeger said his discussion with Worm spawned optimism that a new elementary might not be as far in the distant future as he originally thought.

   “If the preliminary cost from OPN comes back the way I think it’s going to, and the amount we can bond that comes back from Piper Sanders comes back like (Squires) thinks it will, I think we’re in business,” Jaeger told the board.

   “Then I think it’s time to start our process. Then I think we can go out and do all the other things to put us in position to call for an elementary bond.

   “At that point we would have community meetings like we did last time to get feedback from our community, and make sure the will of the community is to put another building out here.”

   Jaeger went so far as to suggest a bond election could take place as soon as November 2025.

   “If everything played out just right, we could be opening up a school in the fall of 2027.”

   Jaeger’s report was part of a “capital improvements” agenda item, which reviewed what things have been accomplished since 2017, and what is ahead.

   Some of the items on the list are planning and building a new transportation center, painting and carpeting the interior of the high school (excluding the gym), updating the tennis courts, and installing a marquee at the high school/middle school site.

In other board business:

   The board approved a number of personnel items, as follows:

   • Resignations – Heather Paddock as job coach/associate at the transition school, Amy Kurth as special education child specific associate at Shannon, and Samantha Tuel as Panther Academy associate.

   Appointments – September Conner as special education child specific associate at Shannon, Mackenna Wulf and Tammy Melchert as special education associates at the middle school, Diane Joslin and Autry Fasnacht as special education associates at the high school, Staci Fleming as job coach/associate at the transition school, and Breanna Bauer, Madilynn Kromminga, Jayden Kuper, Brody Clemmons and Kiara Rigby as Panther Academy associates.

   Transfers – Teresa Reuter from special ed bus driver to regular route driver, and Steph Hanley from sub bus driver to special ed bus driver.