Image courtesy Redwood Area School District

On Tuesday, Redwood Area Public School residents vote whether to approve funding of $46,630,000 to construct and equip a new PreK-4th grade elementary school to replace Reede Gray Elementary School.

On Aug. 9 of last year, Redwood Area Public School residents were asked to vote about whether to approve the district replacing Reede Gray Elementary School with an entirely new facility. The motion failed with 988 no votes and 896 yes votes. In the months since the last referendum, the school board has worked out some ways to reduce the overall cost of the facility despite expected inflation and interest increases.

Also, the school board has settled on something they hadn’t decided on last time: a specific site for the new school. The current proposal is to build the new elemenary school on the large playground area of Reede Gray Elementary School, an established site the district already owns that would need little ground preparation.

Other differences include eliminating the proposed daycare for children ages 0-2 since a new childcare facility is being built near the Redwood Falls water tower.

The question that approved by the school board to be put on the ballot:
Question: Shall the School board of Independent School District No. 2897 (Redwood Area Public Schools) be authorized to issue its general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $46,630,000 to provide funds for the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, including the construction and equipping of a new P-K-4 elementary school, the decommissioning of the existing Reede Gray Elementary School site, the acquisition of land adjacent to that site for use in the construction of the new elementary school; and the construction of related site and grading improvements, concrete walkways, curbs, parking lots and play surfaces?

For more information, see the Redwood Area School District’s web page devoted to the proposal: https://www.redwoodareaschools.com/page/bond-2023