What Hemmer can say with certainty is the addition will include a new preschool room, six other classrooms, a flex learning space, and a new weight room. The weight room will be a shared space for public use, how that will work is yet to be determined.
Carleen Wild
Moody County Enterpse
Official renderings of the new addition planned for the Colman-Egan School District have yet to be unveiled.
They are coming, however, perhaps as soon as the next school board meeting in March.
Superintendent Scott Hemmer gave board members a brief update this past week on where plans stand as of right now in regard to the $6.3 million addition that voters approved this past fall. The district continues to see growth, even more than anticipated this year, with seven new students entering the hallways since October 1st.
What had been a quiet, small rural town with a small school population for decades is rapidly growing — the location is easy to access given its proximity to the I29 and Hwy 34 corridors. It is also centrally located for families who work in either Sioux Falls, Brookings or Madison and considered largely affordable in comparison.
As a result, classroom sizes continue to increase as more families move into the district.
Hemmer and the board have said they hope the addition gives students and teachers currently in school the space they need, but they also hope it’s enough room for the district to grow well into the future.
Soil samples were taken of the ground where the addition will be located, which is just off the west and back wall of the current building, The next big meeting to nail down as many specifics as possible with the architectural team is February 23rd.
What Hemmer can say with certainty is the addition will include a new preschool room, six other classrooms, a flex learning space, and a new weight room. The weight room will be a shared space for public use, how that will work is yet to be determined.
Groundbreaking should be early this fall and the official opening of the new addition would come at the start of the 2025-26 school year.
Also at the most recent meeting of the Colman-Egan School Board, members adopted the new calendar for the 2024-25 school year which includes two full weeks of vacation over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Administrative contracts were also offered.
