By Seth Boyes,
Decorah Superintendent Tim Cronin answered questions from the public during an Aug. 21 tour of John Cline Elementary. The school district is proposing a bond of up to $38 million to construct a new building for students in pre-K through second grade. The proposed building would replace John Cline, which opened in 1964, and West Side Elementary, which was built in 1939. (Photos by Seth Boyes)
Staff at Decorah’s John Cline Elementary School pulled double duty last week as they prepared to welcome not only this year’s incoming students to the classroom but also local voters who will decide whether to approve a proposed bond measure to replace the aging building.
The Decorah Community School District hosted a pair of open houses for the public to view John Cline as well as West Side Elementary on Aug. 21 and 28. The district said the events were a chance for the public to see many of the challenges teachers and staff face while educating their students.
School officials also plan to host a pair of community forums on the subject next month in the Decorah High School auditorium. The first is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, with the second set for 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9.
Space is limited in 60-year-old elementary
Decorah Schools Superintendent Tim Cronin said John Cline Elementary was initially designed like many school buildings of the early 1960s. However, Cronin said, even with additions built during the 1990s, the building does not meet many current standards — and like many buildings of the 1960s, it contains asbestos.
“In general, I think that makes a lot of people anxious, but that was part of the construction code when we built it,” Cronin said.
Cronin said the ‘90s additions to the elementary essentially cocooned some older portions of the building. Judy Moen, a retired Decorah school teacher who helped lead the Aug. 21 tours, said inadequate classroom space isn’t an uncommon issue at John Cline.
“Back in the day, Decorah only had two or three sections,” Moen said. “Now we’re up to five, and they’re bursting at five sections.”
Cronin said the district’s annual enrollment has been steady. John Cline Elementary has a certified enrollment of 312, according to numbers provided by the school district, and Cronin estimated the district’s total enrollment to be around 1,600 students. He said Decorah Schools gained approximately 200 students after the former North Winneshiek School District was closed in favor of full consolidation with Decorah in 2019. The superintendent noted enrollment has dropped by single digits over a period of years, which he said isn’t alarming for a district of Decorah’s size.
John Cline Elementary currently houses students from kindergarten to second grade, while the district’s pre-kindergarten classes are held inside the West Side Elementary building. Cronin said that building — built in 1939 — is underutilized with only the two sections of students to house.
The superintendent said West Side would not longer be needed if John Cline is demolished and a new elementary is built — he stressed the board hasn’t formally discussed options for West Side, but he feels it’s likely the district would consider selling the building to avoid ongoing maintenance expenses.
Feeling the heat
Aside from classroom space, teachers at John Cline also have to contend with mother nature. The building lacks central air conditioning, and the classrooms at John Cline as well as West Side were fitted with individual window units just last year at a cost of about $10,000 — half of which was donated by Decorah Bank and Trust.
But even with the window units, teachers at John Cline said they aren’t necessarily able to run the units constantly during the school day, particularly if the chilly air is directed toward a single group of students. School officials indicated last week that many of the teaching staff run their classrooms’ AC units overnight in an attempt to stave off the next morning’s heat.
And the air conditioners aren’t the only machines running in John Cline’s classrooms. An air filtration unit has been placed in each classroom to bring the 60-year-old school into greater compliance with standards for air exchange.
Moen said the machines’ filters tend to fill up quickly with dust and must be replaced frequently, adding additional costs to the building’s operation.
Water issues have ripple effect on education
Tour guides pointed to cracks and heaves in the building’s linoleum as evidence its foundation may be settling. Replacement parts for one of the building’s restroom wash stations are no longer available, according to Cronin, and roots have infiltrated some of the building’s sewer lines, which Cronin said can lead to septic backups if not addressed periodically.
But it’s the blistered paint on classroom ceilings and the streaked water marks along the hallway walls that staff pointed to last week as evidence of more problematic issues within John Cline.
Moen said staff sometimes arrive in their classroom after a rainy day to find streams of water flowing down their walls or puddles settling on the floor — adding another task for the educators to take on before the morning bell rings, she said.
Cronin said the building’s library had to be temporarily closed last year due to mold issues. He said the cause of the excess moisture was unclear, but the district completed what he called comprehensive air quality testing following a professional cleaning of the library space. Johanna Delaney, a second grade teacher at John Cline, said leaks have at times caused certain maintenance work, such as floor waxing, to be delayed. And Moen told the public during last week’s tour that one of the first-grade classrooms became unusable for a time as school staff hunted for the source of a leak.
Cronin, who was hired by Decorah Schools in 2022, indicated previous school officials deferred on certain maintenance issues — such as the school’s roof — for years, believing a new building was likely to be constructed in the near future.
“If we had a time machine and we could go back to 2008, maybe we’d say ‘Hey, let’s replace the roof, if we’re not going to have a new school in 20 years,’” Cronin said.
He said current estimates for replacing the roof of the 60-year-old John Cline facility total $500,000 — Cronin indicated that figure is a reasonable cost for the work but may not be a responsible use of taxpayer funds with the potential for an entirely new building on the horizon.
Bond issue to be on the ballot
The district will pose two questions to the public next month. Area voters will head to the polls Sept. 10 decide whether to renew the school district’s Revenue Purpose Statement through 2051 — a decision the district said will allow Decorah Schools to continue using state revenue from the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education Fund. Voters will also be asked whether the school district should be authorized to levy up to $4.05 per $1,000 of taxable property value for debt services.
The question of the proposed $38 million general obligation bond measure will be on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The district said, if the proposed bond is approved at the ballot box, local land owners can expect their property taxes to increase each year by about 86 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value — less than $8 per month for a home valued at $250,000.
If the bond proposal is ultimately successful, Cronin expects the elementary project’s design phase will last 10 months, and the district will be able to call for contractor bids in September of 2025. Construction would then be slated to start in March of 2026, and the building could potentially be complete by the fall of 2027.
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Where are the various voting districits located for the voting on the 10th?