GIBBON — After an hour’s debate, the GFW School Board voted to move forward on a referendum for a one-building pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade option, in the Gibbon area.

Earlier this year, a school district task force looked at existing school conditions, enrollment trends and survey results among other factors, before ranking referendum options.

After many meetings, the task force favored building one school building at an estimated cost of $50.8 million at a site to be determined.

The benefits include creating a unified district, cost efficiencies, less administration, lower transportation costs, the efficiency with staff, better security, operational efficiencies of a new building and the possibilities to attract students back to the district.

The current system in which Gibbon, Fairfax, and Winthrop is each home to a school building will cost the district more in the long run in terms of high operating and maintenance costs. The district building already requires $17 million in maintenance projects.

Board members agreed this was the best option, but doubted the voters would pass the referendum.

“Everyone thinks the best option, in a perfect world, is a new school, but were are not in a perfect world right now,” board member Becky Vos said.

She was concerned that if the district tried for a single building referendum and it failed, the district would be set back and the students would suffer.

Board member Marisa Lee agreed to a new school centrally located but was concerned about the cost.

Mike Kuehn said remodeling the buildings was not a longterm solution. The district would need to spend a significant amount of money to get them up to code, only to face the same problems in 10 years.

He believes the buildings had reached the end of their useful lives and something new needs to be built.

Early in the discussion, the board took an informal poll on which option they prefer and they were evenly split. Chair Phil Klenk, Jason Haas, and Kelsey Odegard favored the one-building option. Mike Kuehn, Marisa Lee and Becky Vos believed a two-building option was best.

Another point of contention was where to locate the building. The majority of the board felt a school building should remain in Gibbon as a central location between the communities.

Lee wanted to limit the young students’ time on a school bus forcing lengthy commutes to school each day for 13 years.

Kuehn believes a school needs to be located closer to Winthrop. He said, “the more we move west, the more kids we lose to open enrollment.”

Kuehn said with parents east, north and south they were not going to send them the opposite direction.

Lee said the district would lose a lot of Fairfax students if a single school was placed in Winthrop.

Five different motions were made during the board meeting before a four-two majority decision was reached.

Klenk made the first motion to seek a referendum for a single-building option located around Gibbon, but the vote was deadlocked three to three.

The board discussed the issue further. Odegard made another motion for a single-building located around Gibbon, but once again only three voted in favor.

After the second failed motion, Vos asked if a one-building referendum failed, how long did the district need to wait before trying a different referendum. It was determined the minimum time for another referendum was six months.

Kuehn made a motion for the Gibbon building to be remodeled as pre-K through third-grade school in Gibbon with a new four through 12th grade in Winthrop. The motion failed for lack of a second.

Kuehn later made a motion for a single building (pre-K through 12th grade) in Winthrop. Klenk offered a second, but the motion failed to gain a majority.

Haas said the board was arguing about what was the best option, but said the decision will come down to the voters. He said if the voters don’t want to pass a referendum, “so be it.”

Another motion to seek a referendum for a single pre-K to 12th-grade school was made by Klenk and passed by a four-two vote. Vos voted in favor this time. Kuehn and Less were opposed.

The board agreed to hold a closed session meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, June 27, in Gibbon to discuss negotiation strategies. The goal is to seek options to lower the $50.8 million cost of the single-building referendum.