A little over 10 years ago, a visionary school board purchased 4 acres of land adjacent to the High School Track & Football Field Complex.
There were many reasons over the past 10 years why the property development had not yet begun, however now the School Board and Facility Committee, Krystal Wilke - our Ag Ed Teacher, Rick Sides - our Industrial Arts Teacher, Brad Derr - our Head of Maintenance, and Joe Sherwood - District Superintendent have each had various levels of input and collaboration to begin moving forward to build the first phase of an Agriculture Education complex on that property.
The Nebraska Department of Education has already approved our application (made in July 2020) for a New School Adjustment to our State Aid. Provided we occupy the building in the 2021-2022 school year, we will receive additional State Aid in the 2021-2022 school year and the following year as well.
It is the commitment of the Morrill School Board and Administration, in regard to this project, that we will not attempt to pass a bond issue nor will we raise the current tax levy. This project will be funded with the New School Adjustment to State Aid, grants, donations, sponsorships, in-kind bid reductions and current money available to the school district.
We are in the planning and drawing phase right now. An Omaha, Nebraska architect is drawing plans for us in order to put the project out for bid. We are looking at a facility a little smaller than 5000 sq ft. There will be a 1600 sq ft classroom building and 2600 sq ft animal science lab building joined by a common entrance area with men's and women's bathrooms.
Drawings should be ready for posting as early as Tuesday, January 12th. As soon as the architect has completed the drawings for bid we could launch three simultaneous parts of the project:
1. Site preparation: removing the old house foundation and volunteer trees near Hamilton up to the center of the property, and dirt work preparing the site for construction.
2. Advertising for bids.
3. Grant Writing and Donation or Sponsor Development
It is an exciting time for Morrill Public Schools Agriculture Education and will have a positive impact on the Morrill/Mitchell FFA Chapter. Continue to watch as we should be able to post drawings next week.
