Redwood Area School District purchases Wood Dale nursing home facility

The Redwood Area School Board has approved a purchase agreement for the district to buy the former Wood Dale Nursing Home for $315,000.
On Friday, School Board member Jim Boots told KLGR the possibility came up about two months ago, in part because of the drive to build a new elementary school in Redwood Falls to replace Reede Gray Elementary School.
When the district had a vote last August, asking the public to approve a new facility, one concern the public raised was where the new school would be built.
At that point, the school board’s first choice was on district-owned land between the high school / middle school and Garnette Gardens. However, Superintendent Becky Cselovszki told KLGR that site would have added nearly $5 million to the final cost because of the work needed to stabilize the soils for heavy construction.
According to Cselovszki, the state recommends that an elementary school with the population of Reede Gray Elementary should be built on a site of about 14 acres. The current Reede Gray Elementary School site is only on about 11 acres. Purchasing the Wood Dale property would get the school board up to the 14 acres recommended.
The current concept plan calls for the Wood Dale site to be used for future staff parking, with a new bridge across the existing ditch.
The school board hopes to hold a second vote on April 11 in a stand-along election for public approval of a new elementary school. The school board hopes to release new plans and concept drawings for the proposed new school on or around Dec. 20. KLGR will do a follow-up article going into detail about the concept at that point.