MCSD bond passes


Dakota Jones shows off his “I Voted” sticker on Nov. 5 at the polls. He accompanied his mom, Danielle Jones, to the Berndes Center on Election Day. Dakota will start kindergarten in August 2026, just in time for the new elementary school to open its doors. (Photo by Kim Brooks)
By: 
Kim Brooks
Express Editor

     Voters within the Monticello Community School District (MCSD) showed their support for the construction of a new elementary school on Nov. 5. Needing a super majority plus one vote to pass, the bond vote passed with a total of 60.69 percent (2,115 votes).

   There are 4,620 registered voters within the MCSD, which includes Jones, Linn, Delaware, and Dubuque counties. A total of 3,485 voters voted either in favor or against the bond overall. In Jones County, there are 4,498 voters. A total of 3,391 voted either in favor or against the bond in Jones County.

   Overall, 39.31 percent (1,370 votes) were against the bond.

   Voter turnout specifically for the bond was around 75 percent.

   The $15 million GO (general obligation) bond will go toward a $26.5 million project for a new 65,000 square foot PreK-4 elementary school to create a central MCSD campus with the high school (HS) and middle school (MS). The district will also use $10 million from a sales tax revenue bond and $1 million to $1.5 million in dedicated facility cash reserves.

   In Delaware County, the vote was 50.82 percent (31 votes) in favor, 49.18 percent (30 votes) opposed. In Linn County, the vote was 54.84 percent (17 votes) in favor, 45.16 percent (14 votes) opposed. In Dubuque County, the vote was 50 percent (1 vote) in favor, 50 percent (1 vote) opposed.

   On Tuesday evening, following the closing of the polls at 8 p.m., many were sharing the results of the school bond on social media, forgetting that the MCSD also includes small portions of three additional counties.

   Superintendent Brian Jaeger and members of the “Vote Yes” committee were patiently waiting at the Monticello Berndes Center for the results that evening as well. It took some time to get the final word from those three additional counties.

   Late that night, when the numbers came in from Linn, Delaware, and Dubuque, Jaeger did some fast math to find out that that total in favor was around 61 percent.

   “My gut was telling me between 60 and 65 percent,” he said of his early guess.

   Word came in late on Nov. 5 that it was 60.69 percent, but Jaeger said they were cautious about sharing it publicly.

   “I think we’re there, but let’s be cautiously optimistic,” Jaeger said of the early results. “I got the final number for Whitney (Hein, county auditor) the next morning. I said, ‘We’ll take it. We’re good. We won!”

   On Wednesday morning, the MCSD shared the following via Jaeger: “I am so proud to tell all of you that last night the school bond passed with 60.69 percent of the voters voting yes! That means that this bond passed by approximately 20 votes! That is pretty impressive because over 3,400 votes were cast on this bond issue.

   “Thank you for supporting the work done by our School Facility Committee, our School Board, and the many individuals out there that committed a lot of time and energy toward this project.

   “Special thanks to the ‘Vote Yes’ core committee of Aimee Hospodarsky, Rileigh Newhard, Jeff Hinrichs, Sheila Tjaden, and Nick Miller. This group has worked side-by-side with our school district for six months to gain community support on this project! Along with this core group, many individuals from the Monticello community worked together to help this bond get passed. The energy from everyone working on this project was absolutely fueled by their love and pride for the Monticello community.”

   Of knowing the bond passed, Jaeger commented, “It felt like a million pounds lifted off my shoulders, really, literally. A serious flood of emotions. It’s been a lot of work.”

   Jaeger started working of the MCSD in 2016, a year after the first MS bond failed at the polls. Early on when meeting with school officials, staff, and members of the community, it said it became clear people wanted a new MS, a new elementary school, and a central campus.

   “The number-one thing people said that was on their minds was the school facilities,” he recalled. “We came up with this multi-year comprehensive plan of how this would look. This was the end of the plan. This was the last step, to build an elementary school.”

   In 2018, the $15 million MS bond passed by 70.9 percent. Three years prior, it failed by almost the same amount, 71.9 percent.

   In 1996, the bond for a new HS passed by 69 percent.

   “Eight years later, we’re able to address the biggest concern that our community had when I came in here, and we have finally come to the conclusion to that problem,” Jaeger said of when he started here.

   So what happens now?

   The school board and school staff with meet with OPN Architects to finetune the designs and blueprints.

   “We really want our staff to be invested in the process of putting together this building,” urged Jaeger. “We’ve been given a rendering of what the building could look like. Last time we did too, and it didn’t turn out to be exactly like the rendering; pretty close.

   “With OPN, they bring in their design and they really listen to us and redesign it. It’s really important to get the buy-in from our staff, to have them help with the design of our classrooms, specialty rooms (art and music). Those are going to be really important.”

   He said school officials have learned a few things from the MS, ways they can be more efficient this time around.

   “We’re going to make sure every penny goes really far,” he said.

   Once the school board signs off on the plans, the project will out for bid. The lowest bidder will be awarded the project.

   The elementary school is very similar in size to the MS. Jaeger said OPN estimates construction should take about 14 moths.

   “So if we can get started in May or so of 2025 with breaking ground, that means we could be done in 14 months, which would allow us to open in August 2026. If everything goes just perfectly,” Jaeger said with hope.

   Once the elementary school opens, the school board can then address Carpenter and Shannon schools.

   Jaeger shared these parting words he also sent out to the MCSD staff: “Don’t overlook the fact that your community just showed you in the biggest way possible that they support you and they support the MCSD.”

   Several “Vote Yes” committee members also expressed their appreciation…

   Nick Miller praised Jaeger’s “leadership, communication, and knowledge of the bond process.”

   Many of the committee members were also on the same committee in 2018.

   “We felt we needed to finish what we started,” he said. “Thanks to the voters of the MCSD for being informed and understanding how important quality schools are for a strong community.”

   “I've always been proud to be from Monticello, which is why I decided to come back here to live, work, and raise a family,” shared Rileigh Newhard. “Seeing how our community came together to make this one-campus dream a reality filled me with more pride than I've ever felt. I was fortunate enough to work alongside some amazing people on the ‘Vote Yes Monticello’ committee while leading up to the election, but ultimately, it was the community members that made this happen. As a new parent, teacher, and lifelong community member, thank you. Thank you to everyone who supported the elementary school bond, and thank you to everyone who has and will continue to support the MCSD in the future.

   “Lastly, none of this would have been possible without the guidance and leadership from Dr. Jaeger. The lasting impact that he's had on Monticello schools is really something. What a wonderful time to be a Panther!”

   Aimee Hospodarsky said the bond issue “really appealed to values that we hold in Monticello; pride in our community, a good educational system, taking care of one another (including our youngest students) and ‘paying it forward’ to the next generation as those that came before us did for us.

   “Personally, I think passing two bond issues back-to-back in a matter of six years really puts Monticello on the map, but also says that in an issue like this, in the context of a very divisive general election, we can put aside our differences for the benefit of kids, and I’m pretty proud of that.”

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