FAIRFAX — The Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop (GFW) Board of Education meets Monday, Jan. 13 to consider closing a school site beginning with the 2020-2021 school year and a possible 2020 bond referendum special election.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the GFW Intermediate School Media Center in Fairfax.

Last November, GFW school district voters turned down a proposed $49,713,896 school bond referendum project. The proposal included the purchase of 50 acres of land just northeast of Gibbon to built a new pre-k-12 school and decommission existing schools in Gibbon, Winthrop and Fairfax.

Superintendent Lonnie Seifert said approving the bond referendum and reducing the district’s buildings from three to one would have saved the school district at least $275,000 a year in various ways including busing, maintenance and energy costs.

Seifert said the school district has operated at a deficit for the last six years.

At a December work session and board meeting, it was decided to propose a school building to be closed, establish a public hearing date, then make a final decision.

The board will consider holding a 2020 bond referendum. If approved, a special election date will be determined and a motion to submit a review and comment period to the Minnesota Department of Education is needed.