A project to close the LaCrosse School building and move high school classes to Wanatah cleared a few more procedural hurdles Monday. The Tri-Township School Board approved a lease agreement as part of the bond process to finance an addition to the Wanatah School.
In order to borrow more money than it could with a general obligation bond, the school corporation is transferring ownership of part of the Wanatah property to a legally-separate building corporation. “The building corporation would then lease that portion of the building back to the school corporation,” School Board President Tim Guse explained. “The lease rental due from the school corporation would be paid from property taxes. It would be for the lease of the building during the term of the lease. The lease rental will be sufficient to pay the principal and interest due to the bond holders.”
The school board also approved an additional appropriation allowing the $2.7 million borrowed through that process to be spent on the project.
Current plans call for the addition of five classrooms on the west side of the building, the renovation of some existing classrooms, and the conversion of one classroom to office space. Superintendent Kelly Shepherd says the idea is that the new addition and the north section of the existing building would serve as the middle/high school, while elementary students would be located in the south part of the current building. The work would allow the 1915 LaCrosse School to close at the end of the upcoming school year, although its attached Tiger Den gym will remain in use.
A number of other resolutions related to the bond process were approved during Monday’s special meeting, along with a contract with law firm Ice Miller for continuing disclosure monitoring of both the current and new debt.
