MONROE — The School District of Monroe Board of Education will hold a public presentation at 7 p.m. on Monday, July 10 at the MHS Performing Arts Center.

School district officials, along with representatives from CG Schmidt, Plunkett Raysich Architects and Baird Financial, will present information to local residents on the 70-acre B&S  property on the city’s far east side by 31st Avenue, which has been selected by the school board as the most affordable and desired location to build the new high school. 

Attendees will have a chance to get answers to some of the outstanding questions on the project in preparation for the July 17 special meeting of the electors. At that meeting, eligible district voters will decide whether to grant the school board the authority to acquire the land. B&S officials have offered the district a “land swap” between the 31st Avenue property and about 40 acres of land currently used by the district on the south edge of town for the high school campus. When the new school is built, the city will cede the remaining school structures and land to B&S “as-is.” 

As it stands, should the land vote succeed, contingencies on the land, designing and bid packaging phase could begin. Construction would then begin as early as Spring 2024, with the sports complex being build alongside the building, ending the entirety of the construction phase in the winter of 2025-26. The building wouldn’t open likely until that spring.

The renovation portion of the project at Abraham Lincoln Elementary figures to take just three months and be completed in Summer 2024. 

The timeline for the entire project has already been moved back nearly a year from initial planning. The passing of the $88 million referendum in November 2022 was hit with snags from failures of two land acquisitions, including this same property in December 2022. There was also litigation brought against the board and the school for deceptive campaigning prior to the Nov. 2022 election, but that was thrown out.

Should the vote fail, the district would then begin preparations for building on the current site, which will take over the baseball and football fields. Outdoor sports  will cease at the school for 2-3 years during construction, with the high school building needing to build on th where the current athletic complex is located — assuming there is no further issues that come up with the land, like drainage issues or sinkholes.

The current high school has fallen into a state of near disrepair over its six-plus decade life. A new edition from 2000 has seen a wall separate from the science wing; underground water issues; roof damage; and mold issues. Budget cuts over the past two decades took money away from the maintenance budget for fixing issues to mitigating effects.

Should the current land be chosen, the entire current structure will need to be torn down. 

The first phase of the project would involve land contingencies, designing the building and requesting bids. Construction of the new high school would be estimated to begin in Spring 2024 in the place of the baseball and football fields and last just over a year and a half, with students able to move into the new building during the Winter of 2025-26 or Spring 2026.

Phase two of the project , the renovation to Abraham Lincoln, would still take place during Summer 2024. 

Phase three of the project at the current site would be to demolish the current structure — approximately three months of work — and then build the athletic fields over the course of the next nine months after that.  

The football/soccer/track stadium and baseball field would then be ready for occupancy in the Spring of 2026. Until then, there would be no outdoor physical education at the high school, and football, baseball and track teams would have to relocate to an entirely new school or city until the entire project is completed. Cross country, soccer and tennis would have to schedule further practice times around the city as well.

For more information on the project, from 2017 to present, with items from community surveys, building safety and planning meetings, as well as other informational presentations, power points, info-graphics, construction and planning concepts, timelines and price comparisons, go to https://www.monroeschools.com/.