Wanamingo Elementary School officially set to shut down; community responds on what’s next
(ABC 6 News)- It was only a thought a month ago, but now it’s official. Wanamingo Elementary School is set to close in July.
“This is by far the hardest and most emotional project that I have ever worked on,” said Kenyon-Wanamingo Public Schools Superintendent Beth Giese.
The closure now moving all elementary kids from the school to Kenyon in one K-12 building.
RELATED: Residents react to possibility of Wanamingo Elementary School shutdown
“I’m excited for the possibility of our seniors being mentors to our kindergartners, and I think there’s a lot of positives that can come out of this. Unfortunately, it just feels like such a loss for the community of Wanamingo,” said Giese.
The news heartbreaking for many parents in the community.
“Super bummed. Super bummed about what it will do to the community,” Tia Minter, a parent from Wanamingo.
She says that with the closure now, she is considering moving her kids to another district.
“We are considering it strongly. Because Kenyon is a little bit further away than we would like to be, especially when our kids are so young, and especially with the business being here. The closer the better,” Minter said.
It’s not just parents, but businesses in the community as well.
“As a community member, business member, I do have concerns, how much draw this is going to pull away from our local economy,” Lindsey Loken, a Wanamingo business owner.
The superintendent saying that now that everything is official, the next step is to figure out what to do with the vacant building.
“We haven’t started that process yet. We just had to make the first decision. We’ll get an appraisal of the building. We did get a quote to take the building down, so we’re starting all those processes now,” Giese said.
The school district has a lot of moving parts to go through in terms of how they will help get kids from Wanamingo to Kenyon. The school is expected to be completely empty on June 30th.