The DC West Community Schools Strategic Plan written in 2015 identified three goals for our school district. One of those goals is to "improve and expand facilities and programs to achieve excellence". In 2016, a facilities task force identified several recommendations for the Board of Education to address this goal. Those recommendations were followed and resulted in the following:
2016~ relocation of classrooms in portable buildings in Valley and Waterloo, fire sprinklers installed throughout the Valley campus, restrooms remodeled in the high school.
2017~ relocation of DC West Middle School in an addition on the Valley campus, renovations to kitchens and cafeterias.
2018~ sale of the Waterloo building, remodeling and construction of the high school science labs, life skills lab, and five adjacent classrooms. Replacement of four rooftop units, addition of air conditioning to the south gym, relocation of the hot water boilers and pumps. Remodeling of STEM classroom.
2019~ opening of new four section elementary building (preschool to fifth grade), remodeling of high school classrooms and commons areas, remodeling of wood shop and band room.
2020~ remodeling of remaining high school areas and expansion of middle school classrooms into the remaining 1991 wing of the former elementary school.
The DC West Board of Education would like to address the next phase of long term facility planning with input from leaders in our community. You are invited to volunteer to be a member of a school district facility task force as a next step in problem solving and developing solutions for our facility needs.
• The task force will meet two times for two hours each to complete this work.
• The meetings will be on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:30pm in the DC West Middle/High School Library, September 16 and September 30.
• Board members and administration may be present, yet they will assume the role of listening, clarifying, and answering questions.
The end goals of the task force will be to:
• Identify future goals of what we want for our communities with regard to our facilities
• Clarifying facility needs with possible solutions
• Create a survey that will be used with the district general population
• Estimate the cost of solutions and establish a price point for a possible bond issue
• Make a recommendation for a timeline
We look forward to our first meeting on Wednesday, September 16, 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the DC West Middle/High School Library. If you are interested in serving on this task force, please contact Dr. Melissa Poloncic at mpoloncic@dcwest.org.