Submitted Graphic A drawing produced by architectural firm Zerr-Berg, Fargo, shows an expanded Ely Elementary campus.

RUGBY — To keep up with the changing needs of modern families, the Rugby Public School District put a bond measure before voters in December 2021 to expand Rugby’s Ely Elementary School campus.

The measure passed with what Superintendent Mike McNeff said was “overwhelming support.”

Seventy-nine percent of voters in the Rugby Public School District voted in favor of the measure, surpassing the 60% “yes” vote required to put it in place.

“It just speaks volumes to what people want here in Rugby,” McNeff said.

The school district told residents approximately $1.3 million from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program to address learning loss due to the COVID-19 outbreak would fund the construction. The rest of the funds would come from extending a mill levy put in place to pay for construction at Rugby High School more than 10 years earlier. The total cost for the project was estimated at $9.1 million in 2021.

The vote set in motion plans for a new campus with expanded space for student pickups and drop-offs and parking outside. Plans call for expanding the school building as well, creating spaces for special education and music programs, and enlarging the cafeteria. Architectural firm Zerr-Berg of Fargo created the design for the expansion project.

McNeff noted Rugby schools attract families to the city.

“I think when people look at our community and where they want to live and where they want to go, our district does very well on assessment scores and those kinds of things when compared to our neighbors,” he said. “Even in the state, we do extremely well.”

A remodeled Ely Elementary School would draw more attention to Rugby’s public schools, serving as another reason for families to move to Rugby, McNeff added.

“I think, whether we think so or not, people like newer-looking buildings,” he noted.

“They like to see progress,” McNeff added. “When it comes to our high school, it doesn’t take much to drive by and think, ‘That’s a nice looking building.’ Whether we think so or not, that’s a big deal for people who are potentially going to live and work here and want to send their children to a larger class B school.”

McNeff said the expanded Ely Elementary campus would spark the same reaction among visitors looking to relocate to Rugby.

“With the new design, we’ll have what we call ‘flex spaces,'” McNeff explained. “You’ll have two sections – for example, a two-teacher kindergarten class that students can pour into without having to knock a bunch of walls down. That will help with small group (instruction), which we really focus on these days in education.

“On top of that, some other changes for physical education will expand. If you’ve been to Ely, they have a super-small gym that will expand to regular size, so that will really help our physical education classes,” he added. “If you look at the kitchen and cafeteria, they’re extremely small currently. That’s going to expand to a much larger area to serve our kids. If you think about that, we don’t have to rush our kids through as quickly. They can eat.”

McNeff noted the new design would reflect the changes in students’ needs since the building went up in 1965.

“One of the big components is revamping our special education department,” McNeff said. “When Ely was built, it was an 18-classroom building. A lot’s changed since 1965. Special Ed. is kind of partitioned off. Students are in different locations. The primary focus is to get them to a central area on the first floor. That’s really how schools are designed nowadays.

“We also know that the classroom size itself is extremely small by today’s standards,” McNeff said of the current building. He said classrooms average “about 700 square feet.”

McNeff said 21st century educators “recognize that putting one teacher in front of 25 kids is not a great learning environment sometimes because not everybody (learns the same way).

“We found out we’ve got to break that down more into useable spaces for those kids,” he said of classroom space.

The flex-space design would accommodate support specialists and paraeducators who sometimes pull small groups of students away from their main class areas for extra help.

“So, kids who are maybe at grade level will likely stay in the room sometimes or maybe working in one part of the room, while kids who maybe aren’t at grade level or who need intervention for skills are back at a table in a flexible space between two classrooms,” McNeff said. “So, it helps us meet the needs of students a little bit better in smaller groups.

“In the new square footage, there will be access to sunshine,” he said of the remodel. “Of course, that doesn’t always happen in North Dakota in winter, but in the high school’s commons cafeteria area, you’ll see a similar design. You walk in the building, and it feels fresh. That certainly helps with tough days when there’s not a lot of sun.

“The other piece is the pickup and drop-off area,” McNeff added.

He said the new parking and student drop-off areas would make a positive impact on the neighborhood where Ely Elementary is located by reducing traffic congestion on the streets that border the school.

The new construction, managed by Consolidated Construction of Bismarck, would bring a short-term but welcome boost to Rugby’s economy as well, McNeff said.

“Construction workers will be here. This will be about an 18-month to two-year project. You might get people to move to the community, he said.

“Then, you have the onsite superintendent who will be here full time as well as all the different subcontractors. You think about the restaurant industry in town – the workers will have to have a place to eat. They’re going to have to have hotel stays, because they’ll be working away from their home cities,” McNeff added.

“We’re in the process of getting our first bid package out (to subcontractors),” McNeff said. “That first early bid package includes site work.”

The early work would include installing underground wiring and removing a school-owned section of Rugby’s 3rd Avenue Southwest.

“And then, finally, we’re just trying to get in line for structural steel, because there’s a long wait for that,” McNeff added.

“Hopefully it works out and we can start work early in May,” he said. “Then, we can get rolling on foundations and all of those things that go along with that. So, we’ll have a busy summer with all of that there.”