By Sam Parsons

The Ottumwa School Board met on Monday and received a presentation on the final bids for their proposed 3rd to 5th grade learning center addition for Douma Elementary. The original estimate for the complete project was $21.5 million, but a bid received from Bi-State Contracting came in at just under $16.8 million, or $4.7 million lower than estimated. The contract was awarded to Bi-State and it’s expected that ground will be broken toward the end of March, with substantial completion of the project to be done by the end of the 2023-24 school year.

The board also revisited the topic of the transition of the 6th grade class at Evans Middle School to Liberty Elementary. Associate Superintendent Brad McCloskey represented a committee of 25-30 people who researched the proposal, and superintendent Mike McGrory said that the committee unanimously recommended moving forward. A committee representative gave some numbers on what the feedback from parents looked like.

The transition was approved by the board and will go into effect next year.

The full board meeting can be viewed here.