The Washington Community School Board approved to hold the first two community meetings to discuss middle school facility options during their meeting Wednesday.

The district has had an online survey open since March 18th for residents to pick their first two choices of four presented to address the building’s needs with an expected general obligation bond. The four options are presented with videos and a list of pros and cons on the district website, and Superintendent Willie Stone told the board that this week they have received at least 468 survey responses, with his goal to get at least 1,000. Stone has stated he has no preference for which option they choose, but he is prudent on utilizing the current building, “We will try to find somebody who wants to renovate that building either into apartments, Grinnell has a hotel that’s an old school building. If we can find the right person that’s like that, great. Not gonna lie, we’re not going to leave a building sitting in the middle of our town that’s going to be dilapidated, that’s going to die. It eventually will look terrible, that’s why we’re having to do something because it’s starting to get to the point where we have bricks falling off our chimneys to be real honest with you.”

The board approved to hold the first community meeting sometime next week, and the second one during the week of May 10th. Stone plans to either hold the meetings in the auditorium or the high school commons, and will finalize the date and time once space availability is determined. The project timeline includes holding a third community meeting in June, followed by the board choosing one option that month. After the board gains enough signatures to petition an election, they would campaign for a referendum vote on September 14th.