The Menahga School Board has been reviewing current and projected enrollment numbers that are causing crowded classrooms and inadequate gym space.
The board held a special meeting Monday night to discuss the possibility of a new building project.
"This will be a large project - whenever we do it - in difficult times," chairman Hugo Pulju said. "The community needs to be consulted. The people in this district deserve and want to have an adequate facility."
The board is now in the beginning stages of planning a building project. The project could cost up to $7 million.
In addition to crowded classrooms, Menahga school doesn't have adequate locker space, meaning they're located in the basement with no handicap accessibility.
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The board discussed the importance of focusing on the problems and fixing them without going overboard with the spending.
"We need to convince the people that we are looking at the dollars objectively," treasurer Curtis Hasbargen said.
Superintendent Jerry Nesland suggested that the first step the board should take is to identify a team that will present detailed information on the financial, architectural and constructional aspects of the project.
"They're part of the process of communicating to the public," Nesland said.
The team would bring recommendations to the board and a community input meeting would follow.
Nesland presented four companies - one for each part of the project - as recommended professional services that he previously worked with.
The four companies are: Ehlers and Associates as a financial consultant, JP Structures as the construction manager, Hunter Grobe as the architect and Energy Services Group as the project commissioning consultant.
Members on the board agreed that some competition is needed before hiring any of the recommended services.
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Due to the competitive nature of any construction project, at least two companies for each part of the project should present proposals so the board could have more options, Pulju said.
By December, the board will have proposals from two finance and two construction companies and by January, it should have proposals from two architects and two commissioning companies.
Instead of having to collect proposals from all four types of services at once, Nesland said this way there will be adequate time to first gather the proposals and then review them at the regular school board meetings.
Reviewing the proposals could take up to a year and it could be another year before any construction begins.
In other action, the board:
-Approved adjustments of the high school student policy handbook, which includes tardiness, absences and off campus passes during the noon hour.
Seniors in the audience cheered when the board agreed to let high school principal Mary Klamm meet with the senior class to determine when they'll be able leave the building during the noon hour.
According to the policy, seniors in good standing academically and behaviorally will be issued Gold Passes. The passes will allow seniors to go downtown during lunch.
