The Green Mountain-Garwin (GMG) Community School District’s secondary (7-12) campus including the main gym (left) in Garwin pictured on Friday, Jan. 24. Following the successful passage of a $12.3 million bond referendum last November, GMG plans to construct a new middle/high school addition east of the main gym in space currently occupied by a parking lot. The 1925 building, visible on the right side of the photo, will eventually be demolished. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

GARWIN – The Green Mountain-Garwin (GMG) Community School District — and by extension the rural Tama County community of Garwin — closed out 2024 on a high note with the successful passage of a $12.3 million bond referendum in November. As the district now looks ahead to utilizing bond proceeds for construction of a new secondary addition in Garwin, the future certainly looks bright for one of Iowa’s smallest public school districts.

In June of 2024, the GMG school board seemingly put the community on notice the district was serious about pursuing a bond referendum that autumn in order to address the deteriorating 1925 building in Garwin (part of the district’s 7-12 campus) when members unanimously approved hiring design-build firm SitelogIQ. At the time, the board planned to use SitelogIQ for pre-election community engagement as well as future design services in the event a referendum should pass with the requisite 60% supermajority.

“This is big,” former board member and president Jill Roberts said during the June 10, 2024 meeting. “That (1925) building’s not going to last forever, and if we just keep kicking the can down the road – and we don’t do something somewhere – what chances do we have of continuing this district? Are people going to pull out because we have crappy buildings?”

Two months later during the Aug. 12, 2024 meeting, the board unanimously adopted a resolution to hold a special election that November to address critical building infrastructure needs pertaining to the 1925 portion of the secondary campus.

The passing of the Bond Referendum Resolution followed a petition the board received containing 109 signatures from district residents – far surpassing the 51 signatures needed for the school board to proceed.

GMG’s 1925 secondary building pictured last summer. The space currently houses mostly classrooms and is part of a three-building complex. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

A whirlwind three months later on Tuesday, Nov. 5, GMG voters approved the one-question public measure to issue $12.3 million in general obligation bonds to build, furnish, and equip a new middle/high school addition. The public measure passed with overwhelming support – 66.3% (654 votes) in favor.

GMG Superintendent Chris Petersen – in only his first full year as superintendent at GMG (shared with Baxter CSD) – released the following statement shortly after the referendum passed: “We are excited to announce the successful passage of this referendum, allowing us to replace the outdated portion of the Middle School/High School with a new, fully ADA-compliant 22,000 square foot building. This upgrade includes modern electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems, as well as a new commons area and media center. These improvements will create a safe and inclusive learning environment that supports the needs of all our students.”

The uniqueness of GMG

Passage of the referendum was far from a bygone conclusion despite the robust support the public measure eventually garnered.

During the June 2024 school board meeting, board member Justin Hornberg provided pointed commentary in regard to the uphill battle he felt such a referendum might face in a district which relies heavily on open enrollment. A majority of the families served by GMG are not district property taxpayers and thus would not be able to vote in a school election.

The front entrance to GMG’s secondary building complex (left) in Garwin pictured last summer in the shadow of the 1925 building displaying the architectural stamp “Harry E. Reimer.” Reimer was a prominent Marshalltown architect who is credited with designing multiple school buildings and gyms throughout central Iowa. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“This is gonna be a tough sell, I’m afraid,” Hornberg said. “I don’t think the community is going to rush in and say, ‘Heck yeah, let’s raise my taxes.’ Judging by what I’ve seen in the surrounding communities, I’m very hesitant to think that it’s gonna just [pass] with 90% approval. Being as we’re so heavily open-enrolled, we’re a small district but (with) an actual small enrollment from our in-district people.”

Hornberg also addressed the district’s neighbor, the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District – a district from which, along with Marshalltown, GMG draws most of its open enrolled students.

“If we want to stay up to date with one of our biggest contributors of open enrolled kids – which is directly north of us here – we’ve got to stay [competitive]. This has become an arms race now – what can you do to pull? Because families aren’t just moving into small town Iowa districts right now.”

According to data recently released by the Iowa Dept. of Education (DOE), for the 2024-25 school year, GMG has 200.2 resident students in district – down three from the previous school year. The district open enrolled out 47 students this school year (an increase of six from the previous school year), while 246 students are open enrolled in (an increase of two from the previous school year).

The total enrollment served at GMG for the 2024-25 school year is 446.3, per the Iowa DOE.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Convincing an electorate to support a school bond referendum worth more than $12 million to benefit a student body that is essentially majority non-resident was thus a challenge from the get-go. But with their votes on Nov. 5, GMG residents made it loud and clear: keeping a viable public school in Garwin – a community of less than 500 people according to the most recent U.S. Census – was important, no matter the student body’s collective zip codes.

Next steps

The newspaper reached out last week to Superintendent Petersen for an update on where the district stands today in regard to facility planning.

“We are in kind of a lull right now in the process, but I can update you on where we are going moving forward,” he said in an email. “We are beginning the design phase of the project right now. We are reviewing scopes, setting the design schedule, and looking into design options. That will continue into this spring.

“Late this spring and into the summer, we will finalize scopes and projects. That will be followed late this summer or early this fall (2025) with some construction planning meetings. Once those are complete, we will go out to bid next fall (2025).”

Petersen said he anticipates construction will commence in the summer of 2026, while the district will be looking to sell the first set of bonds within the next two months.

The secondary addition will be a two-story building, Petersen said, and will be constructed on the southeast side of the Garwin campus off the front of the main gym in what is currently a school parking lot.

During construction, students will continue to attend classes in the 1925 building as they do now. Once the addition is complete and open, the 1925 building – situated on the northeast side of campus – will be demolished and replaced with a parking lot.

Petersen said the school board plans to use SAVE/PPEL (Secure an Advanced Vision for Education/Physical Plant and Equipment Levy) funds to pay for demolition of the old building meaning no further bond referendums are planned at this time for the secondary addition project.