(Milford)– Patrons of the Okoboji Community School District had a firsthand opportunity Wednesday to review and give input on plans and designs for the new elementary and additions and renovations to the high school. Kendra Hage of the CoOp Architectural Firm in Sioux Falls outlined some of what they’ve come up with so far for the elementary…
“Yes, we’re kind of trying to play off the natural elements, use some natural materials based off our concept. Have a lot of views, the outdoors so a lot of glass. The idea is kind of always connected to nature while you’re in the building, so a lot of views of the exterior. We’ve got themes around the building kind of playing off the natural habitats around the area, so trying play off. We’ve got prairie themes, lake themes, river themes, oak savannas, playing those into the interior as well with colors and something that’s a little playful for an elementary school.”
Hage says with the latest plan revision, they’re looking at 108,000 to 114,000 square feet for the elementary.
Voters earlier this month allocated $69 million in bonds for the project and Hage says they’re obligated to sticking to that…
“The budget is the budget so we’re going to try to meet that. We don’t really have an option to go over it so what we do have with this project is opportunity. We’ve got the elementary school, we’ve talked about doing phases. So we’ve got the elementary school, we’ve got phases on the high school and that gives us flexibility on the back end of the budget to kind of pick and choose what pieces and parts of the high school will move forward, but we’ve got our main priorities that we’ll stick to and I’m confident those will be within the budget, so.”
From here Hage says they’ll continue to tweak the design with bid documents being drawn up after that…
“Hoping to put it our for bid in April for the first phase. The second phase will be put out in May. The first phase is the elementary school, second phase is the additions to the high school and then there will be a third phase which will be the commons addition to the high school and then various renovations throughout, and that will come in January 2026 with hopes for all of it to be completed in before the school year in 2027, in the fall.”
Superintendent Todd Abrahamson indicated at the start of Wednesday evening’s meeting that dirt work on the elementary part of the project could get underway in late May, 2025.
