Facilities issues dominate Decorah School Board meeting

Beyond the lengthy discussion regarding the future of pre-K through grade 2 facilities (see separate story), the Decorah Community School Board discussed multiple facility related issues at their board meeting Monday night.

The board authorized Superintendent Mike Haluska to proceed with the bid solicitation processes for renovations to the Carrie Lee Auditorium. The project would include new seating, lighting, curtains, carpet and painting. Seating would necessarily be reduced to about 400 seats to provide needed accessibility.

The board also discussed the serious leak problem with the Decorah Middle School roof. Ultimately the board decided to bring in presenters to provide options for dealing with the problem. A new roof could likely cost $250,000, but that work could not be accomplished until next summer. Board members seemed in agreement that a temporary fix (that perhaps could last a long time) would need to be done this summer, costing perhaps $64,000. They decided to defer decisions until further input was available.

Part of the summer work schedule includes the $100,000 remodel for Carrie Lee classrooms to address increased enrollment. K-4 classrooms will also benefit with the addition of Smarboards this summer, at the cost of nearly $108,000.