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The school board on Monday approved architect design fees for both projects, each estimated at 8.5% of the total cost.

Board member Rick Mullen called the healthcare sciences renovations are “so exciting.”

“When you talk about opportunity, this is a great thing that’s happening for our students. So, thank you to everybody who is making this happen,” Mullen said.

High School Principal Jeremy Bilhorn and Director of Buildings and Grounds Stephen Schantz have looked at possible designs with Plunkett Raysich Architects for the renovations, which would be for three-and-half current classrooms.

The space would be used for a four-bed lab space for the certified nursing assistant program, an improved space for the emergency medical technician program, phlebotomy lab space for a future certification program, bathroom facilities that are suitable for inpatient and at-home training care, a simulation lab, a flexible learning environment for future certification programs and a prominent location in the building to increase exposure and proximity to the existing science, technology, engineering and mathematics facility.

“As the current programming continues to grow in demand, the proposed facility will help to facilitate the innovative steps taken by the high school and best serve to meet the needs of our student career goals and work towards meeting the communities healthcare worker needs of the future,” a memo from Bilhorn and Schantz to Superintendent Rich Dahman, Director, Business Services Ross MacPherson and the board states.

The budget for the renovations is estimated to be about $970,000. Work is expected to start in June and to finish around late August 2026. The “ideal bidding window” would be in February, according to the memo, with the final project cost approval by the board in March. That would bring the estimated 8.5% to a little over $73,500.

Maintenance facility

The current maintenance facility is a 5,000 square-foot building built in 1979. In a memo, Schantz and Bilhorn said the district had about 315,000 total square feet of space in 1979. In 2025, it had about 721,000 square feet. And there are modern operational challenges today, such as delivery trucks getting to the maintenance building while maneuvering High Street traffic en route to the high school.

If the district were to relocate its maintenance facility, that would open the door for the current facility to be converted into the district’s animal sciences education barn. That project would be funded by the Milton FFA Alumni.