(Milford)– Some major construction projects continue in the Okoboji Community School District. Construction of the new elementary was hampered somewhat by this winter’s cold snaps, but Superintendent Will Dible says things are now pretty much back on schedule…
“We got like a week or two behind and we did a couple things and got back on schedule, and so right now we’re back on schedule but then that kind of goes back and forth depending on weather. Some of these really cold days it had some effect, but again the construction manager we have and their agent does a great job of helping us take some direction on what could we do to get back on schedule, and so we’re hoping to continue that.”
The new school is scheduled for completion in July of 2027. Construction also continues on two phases of renovations and additions at the high school in Milford. Dible says work continues on the first phase and that some of the bids have been awarded for the second…
“The project as a whole, now those came in a little bit higher, but with that being said our other ones had come in a little lower. So really what that comes down to is really we came in at budget, more so in that sense, which is really good to see, too.”
Dible says the school board will consider bids for the rest of the second phase next month…
“And the second portion of those will be approved at the March 11th regular board meeting, and so we’ll be on pace to get that work going at the same time. And so really phase one at the high school and phase two at the high school is going to have a lot of overlap, especially this summer, in the project that we’re working on there. Elementary, obviously, is still on track and along those lines. It’s also kind of great or unique, you might say, in that some of them have some overlapping sub-contractors, some of them don’t, so we get to work with a lot of different businesses. It’s also nice to see that we’ve got some local in there which is also a nice thing for us too, as a board, when we can have some of our local companies as the low bid as well.”
Work on the first phase at the high school includes construction of the new science wing, multi-purpose area and a shop area. The second phase will include renovations to classrooms, commons area, weight room and lunch room…
“There will be a lot of moving things around during the school year next year to kind of make that work since a lot of those classrooms we’re going to be doing them in phases on the inside, but overall it really is going to be a great remodel for pretty much the whole high school when you put them together.”
Dible says they’re hoping to start at least some of the phase two work at the high school during the upcoming spring break.
