East Mills Teachers Throw Support Behind Bond Issue

MALVERN - Ask a teacher at East Mills Junior/Senior High School what their biggest criticism of the 60-plus year old building is and the list is a fairly long one.

But it always starts with the same issue.

“The building in Malvern isn’t ADA compliant,” said Lindsey Sayers, an instructional coach at the school.

Accessibility standards issued under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) apply to all public places, including schools and local and state government facilities as well as commercial facilities. But only in new construction, alterations, and additions. The junior/senior high building was built in the 1960s.

“If a student is in a wheelchair, they are limited to the first floor and that student being able to go up and down the levels would be providing a better education for them,” Sayers added.

But accessibility isn’t Sayers’ – or East Mills teachers’ – only concern.

All of the district teachers who spoke to The Opinion-Tribune mentioned the building’s ADA compliance before going on to speak about heating and cooling issues, classroom and educational functionality, aging athletic facilities and dated floor plan as concerns.

The building and campus facilities have certainly seen better days. The last renovations to the junior/senior high building came a decade ago when the stage and weight/wrestling room was added as an addition off the gymnasium. The campus parking lots and the football field – with it’s ancient cinder track – are all in dire need of updating.

“I supposed we could try hosting tracking meets on it, I think a couple schools still do have it, but they’re dying,” said longtime teacher and coach Kevin Schafer of the school’s track surface that hasn’t hosted a home track meet in several years.

East Mills Superintendent Tim Hood said the building’s issues of accessibility and the growing picture of out-of-date facilities “stick out like a sore thumb” and make the best case for exactly why a campus facelift is needed.

“Every district that touches us, their facilities have been updated,” Hood said. “We are the only facility in the area that has not been renovated or had a new building built. I’ve told many groups I’ve spoken to: it’s time for East Mills kids to have quality facilities like the districts that touch us. It’s long overdue.”

On Sept. 14, the East Mills School District will put to the voters a $22 million bond that would allow the district to renovate and remodel the junior/senior high building in Malvern into a consolidated preK-12 school.

A phased construction would include an addition as well as modernize the building and update the campus footprint, including the sports facilities and parking lots. As part of the plan, the district has plans to then convert its 25-acre East Mills Elementary School campus along Highway 34 into a regional career technical education (CTE) center. Iowa Western Community College, Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates and the Lakin Foundations have already expressed interest in partnering on the project the district says will attract students from all over southwest Iowa to get career and technical job training when completed.

If the bond issue passes, the punch list of where exactly that $22 million would be allocated for the overhaul is a long one.

The HVAC system is antiquated, making parts of the building drafty and others hot and stuffy, no matter the time of year.

“They’ve continued to put patches on things to fix them,” Sayers said. “It just needs to be updated so it can be predictable, and everyone can be comfortable.”

The locker rooms are small, dark and dated.

“You’d have to see to understand,” Schafer said. “They aren’t in good shape. We probably need new lockers too, so they can get all their football equipment in and updated showers. It’s not the best facility.”

The school also doesn’t have an auditorium – the stage is attached to the gymnasium – and very little fine art space. Vocal music and instrumental music share the same classroom.

Sami Moyers, in her fifth year at East Mills, and 16th overall in education, teaches English in a classroom that has just two power outlets.  She wants to see the district continue to carry its innovative, “where’s our need and what’s best for the kids” approach in education to its facilities. The bond issue will do that, she said.

“We’re having great academic success and great athletic success in facilities that are not great,” said Moyers. “Our classrooms are not functional, our heating and cooling system is not great, my classroom has two outlets in the entire classroom. When you put 20 kids in there with laptops and a projector and speakers, it’s just not realistic and we need to do something about that.”

The bond issue is personal for Moyers on several levels: she’s an Emerson native, a 2002 Nishna Valley graduate and she also has two children currently in the school district.

Moyers said even before the announcement of the CTE center, the idea of combining into one updated and remodeled, preK-12 school on one campus had huge benefits that made it “hard to see the negative.”

“I am a huge advocate for it,” said Moyers. “I think this is great (opportunity) for our district and we are in need of doing something. I think the last year with the community engagement was a good process that the board did. With COVID, it was a weird situation but having the meets virtually helped. And it kept the options open to what the community wanted.”

What the community wants will ultimately be decided on Sept. 14. A passed bond – 60 percent of voters would have to approve – could have construction beginning as early as next spring. A no vote and East Mills is exactly where it’s at now, according to Hood, the superintendent.

“Like any bond issue, depending on what kind of vote it is, you may have to pivot to do something else,” Hood said. “If it doesn’t pass, we’ll regroup and figure out what our next steps are.”

Moyers hopes it doesn’t come to that.

“It worries me a little but I have faith our people know this really is about our kids and our students,” she said of the vote. “The board and the Vote Yes committee has been very transparent about this process. I hope that even people who are a little reluctant or don’t necessarily fully love the idea still understand it’s still in the best interest of East Mills and our student and our future and they get behind it.”

Sayers doesn’t hold back in her assessment of the bond’s chances with voters in two weeks.

“I think it’s going to pass,” she said. “And I hope that everyone can be really proud of the opportunities for both sites because they are both equally important. It’s important to have to a regional CTE center and it is important to have all of our students in one building. It’s more opportunities for everyone.”