GRAND FORKS – Excitement is building as plans are underway to build a new school at Grand Forks Air Force Base, but advocates say more work needs to be done before the dream of a new Twinings Elementary and Middle School becomes a reality. say the people.
Educators, state legislators, architects, parents and other groups involved in the school construction project attended an open house in Twinings on Tuesday, Oct. 10, to share information about the project’s progress.
The estimated cost of the kindergarten through eighth grade school is expected to be $83 million, according to . Brandon Baumbach, business manager for Grand Forks Public Schools. Eighty percent of the cost will be covered by federal grants. Local leaders are working on a plan to secure matching funds for the remaining 20% of the cost, or $16.6 million, from state and local sources.
A total of $733,000 in federal Department of Defense funding has been secured for the initial design phase of the project, which is being performed by JLG Architects.
At Tuesday’s open house, Grand Forks coach Terry Brenner, who oversees the city and Air Force base school districts, said construction on the 110,000-square-foot school could begin in summer 2025 and open in 2026. It can accommodate up to 500 students. The current number of registered users is approximately 300.
The school will be built to accommodate younger children and children with special needs.
GFAFB School Board President Michelle Shepherd is confident the federal grant application will be approved.
“They want to see us succeed,” she says.
Baumbach said the challenge will be raising $16.6 million in matching funds for the project, as required by the federal grant program.
Baumbach said local education leaders are working on a plan to submit a “request” to the North Dakota Legislature in 2025 for about $8 million. The remaining $8 million-plus will come from federal impact aid and other funds.
The opportunity to build a new school on base “will never come back,” he says. The building will be a “30-year solution.” …It will be done and it will be done right. ”
State Sen. Scott Meyer, R-Grand Forks, who attended the open house, said it was important to convince state lawmakers of the need for the facility.
Brenner received word from the Department of Defense in early March that the school at the Air Force base was one of 10 schools nationwide to be part of a $650 million plan to renovate and build schools. I received a notification. Members of the roundtable Brenner assembled quickly concluded that a new school was needed.
Brenner, who served as principal at Twining earlier in his career, said, “It really tugs at my heartstrings when I see parents being deployed. There’s something really special about the families here.”
School design is an important element in planning, he said. “We want this school to be representative of the past, present and future of this military installation.”
The original school building was built in 1960 and a gymnasium was added in 2003, said Dr. Eric Lunn, a longtime member of the Grand Forks Board of Education.
“It’s pretty outdated,” he said.
“The teachers here are phenomenal,” Sheppard said, but they face conditions that hinder teaching and learning.
“We’re trying to teach to 21st century standards, but we don’t have enough space or resources to do that,” said Shepard, who is also serving as Twining’s classroom specialist this school year.
She and her husband, GFAFB School Board Vice President Branden Shepherd, have been on base for nine years. They have four children, she said.
In his remarks Tuesday, Sheppard cited some of the shortcomings of the current structure, including a distinct odor that constantly emanates from the library area, poor control over who enters the building, and a lack of air conditioning. I talked about this.
“Some people think of[air conditioning]as a luxury,” she says. “But is it a luxury to have to send students home with headaches and stomach aches at the beginning and end of the school year?”
Col. David Castor, commander of GFAFB’s Mission Support Group, said the base’s future “wasn’t that safe 10 to 12 years ago, but now Grand Forks is safe and will be safe for the foreseeable future.” Stated.
But “it’s hard to find Airmen who want to come here,” he said, noting that the first thing they consider is the quality of the school. “We have great teachers, but the facilities don’t match the quality of the staff.”
Castor also said the new structure should include space to meet the childcare needs of staff. And Shepherd said the design provides high school students attending Grand Forks Central High School with a “local base of support” and enough flexibility to stay on base when weather makes travel unsafe. He said that it is necessary to have
Central High School sophomore Logan Voorhees attended the middle school after his family arrived here in 2020. He told the gathering that he was disappointed with GFAFB’s educational facilities and sports programs.
“As children with ties to the military, we face unique challenges,” Voorhies said, pointing to situations such as divorce, family separation and frequent relocation.
“And the base continues to close more and more facilities,” he said, citing the closure of bowling alleys and movie theaters.
The new school has the potential to attract talented teachers and staff, Voorhies told the gathering.
Initial designs for the new school focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, but Sheppard said they are looking to incorporate the arts into the plans.
The current design includes a 350-seat auditorium that could be used for a number of activities, including retirement ceremonies, graduation events and plays, Sheppard said, noting there is no auditorium on base.