There are currently no plans for property next to the College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center, which Decatur’s school board agreed to purchase last week.
“Mainly, we’ve got to get more land,” said Decatur Superintendent David Dude. “I don’t anticipate getting any huge chunks of land, but part of what we do next [throughout the district] depends on the land we acquire.”
He added that even with voter approval earlier this month of the $75 million general obligation bond, there are also no plans yet regarding a new elementary school, a new 4/5 Academy or a new ECLC.
Dude said he’ll spend much of December “digging into the planning phase and learning about what’s happened before I came here,” and that he anticipates a series of community engagement meetings in January and February.
He’s been down this road before. As Chief Operating Officer for the Iowa City Community School District, he spent two years preparing a 10-year master plan for three new schools and athletics facilities with a projected $300 million cost.
“This early work is not flashy,” he said. “There’s a lot of preparation. Just because the bond has passed doesn’t mean the shovel goes immediately into the ground.”
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