The proposed new K-to-9 school in Gibbons would replace the town's two other existing schools.
Gibbons Mayor Dan Deck was joined by Sturgeon Public School officials on Monday (Apr. 17) afternoon to officially announce the collaboration between the town and school division.
The announcement was made across the street from Landing Trails School, in front of the land where the new school would be located.
"It gives me great pride and happiness to see us working toward a collaborative partnership with the Sturgeon school division," said Deck. "This is the first step in building a new school for the town of Gibbons."
While they are still in the brain-storming phase of the project, the long-term goal is to have this new facility replace both Gibbons School and Landing Trails.
"The schools will stay in place until such time as the new school is open and ready to run," said Deck. "These two schools will be gone [once the new school is operational]."
Gibbons School has been showing its age recently with day-to-day maintenance starting to become a problem. Landing Trails, on the other hand, relies on several portables and is also showing signs of aging.
"Families have children, grandparents, they will access the schools, the rec facilities, schools become a central hub," said Deck. "When you see 300 cars here or 300 cars at the other side of town, schools are a central hub."
"The educational levels here are excellent, our school board is great, and our teachers are wonderful. Now we have got to give them the tools and the facilities to continue building on that."
Now that the collaboration is official, the school division and the town will continue meeting to determine the next steps in the project.