Kimball school plans construction

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KIMBALL — The Kimball School District plans to begin reconstruction of its multipurpose room and construction of a new addition this spring.

Besides reconstructing the damaged multipurpose room, the district will move a weight room to construct a new bathroom. The weight room will displace a band room, which will be moved into a new addition.

The district will use the $684,375 settlement received from arbitration with Swift Contractors of Sioux Falls in May. Swift built the multipurpose room addition in 2003 and by 2006 it was showing signs of deterioration when the ground below it began settling. Large cracks in several areas of the building were the most prominent problem.

Superintendent Sheri Hardman said as the reconstruction takes place, the district will create a second bathroom in the elementary wing in the current weight room and make both bathrooms ADA compliant. The current bathroom has not been updated since it was built in the 1960s.

Also, the district plans to issue bonds to build a new music wing, with a choral room for kindergarten through 12th grade and a band room for fifth through 12th grade. The addition will also include two new classrooms. The cost of the addition is not yet known.

“We hope to move our private preschool into the elementary wing,” Hardman said. “Should that happen, we may need to move some of our higher elementary students into the high school wing.”

The district has hired Gil Haugan Construction as construction manager and Architecture Inc. of Sioux Falls as the architect, and is currently testing soil for future groundwork.

“We hope to start the day after school lets out in May,” Hardman said.

Construction will take place during summer vacation. Hardman said she will schedule school to start a week and a half later to accommodate the construction.

Kimball’s enrollment was 272 students this fall, according to the state Department of Education. That’s down slightly from 276 in 2011.

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