Colman-Egan administrators had planned for construction on a new school addition to begin this fall, but the project is getting an early start.
Superintendent Scott Hemmer met with developers last week to discuss the $4.1 million project, which will add a preschool room, six classrooms, a flexible learning space, and a new weight room to the west side of the current building.
During the meeting, Puetz Design & Build of Mitchell informed Hemmer that they wanted to start work immediately. Fencing and digging could begin as early as this week.
The construction means staff and families will lose access to parking and entrances on the building’s west side.

“Parking will be the biggest challenge,” Hemmer said.
“I don’t think it’ll be anything earth-shattering; people will just have to make accommodations for the year.”
The early start should allow crews to enclose the addition quickly, allowing work to continue through the winter. Little disruption during the school day is expected for students, only two classrooms are adjacent to the construction zone, the rest of the west end is mainly locker rooms. Hemmer said construction crews plan to work around class schedules the best they can.
As more acreages pop up in rural Moody County and as entirely new neighborhoods continue to be constructed in the city of Colman, the district has been seeing on average in recent years at least ten new students each year. So far this year, 12 new students have been added to the roster for a total of 327 students for the 2024-2025 school year.
An interesting opportunity may present itself given the unexpected low cost of the new addition — with bids coming in well below the expected $6.3 million, the district may have nearly $2 million still available for other projects. What that could mean remains to be seen, although there has been a lot of support for a new athletic complex that would include a new football field and a track.
Currently, the Hawks are one of the only schools in their conference that do not have a dedicated space for runners to practice.
“I don’t think anyone involved would have dreamed the bid would come in this low,” Hemmer said. “The architects haven’t seen numbers like this in years.”
Officials attribute the competitive bids to a slowdown in the economy, with contractors noting a decline in private work. Construction on the new addition is scheduled to be done sometime next summer and open to students for the 2025-26 school year.