Ocheyedan, Iowa — The building that used to serve as the Sibley-Ocheyedan Schools Ocheyedan Elementary is coming down, and Ocheyedan officials would like to see it down before the town’s 125th anniversary celebration in August.
Before the school was closed at the end of the 2008-2009 year, Sibley-Ocheyedan officials discussed the financial and educational merits of closing the elementary, which at the time housed all of the district’s fourth graders. After the decision was made to close the facility, school administrators worked closely with the mayor of Ocheyedan, trying to find a good purpose for it. A community center was discussed, but it didn’t appear to be in the cards any time soon.
The school district is getting the ball rolling on the demolition. They say they’d like to have it down and have grass growing by the time of the 125th anniversary in August. District Superintendent Bill Boer says they don’t really want the site in mid-demolition during the celebration. He says they have hired the Cannon Moss Brygger architectural firm to handle getting the specifications for the demolition. He says those will be written up and sent out. The next step, he says, would be a pre-bid walk-through, and then they would accept bids for the demolition.
