SPRING VALLEY — The School District of Spring Valley’s referendum construction is moving along swiftly. The vast majority of work inside the school is expected to be completed prior to the beginning of the 2026-27 school year, with work on the track and transportation building not far behind.

The community approved a pair of referendum questions back in 2025, totaling $13.15 million for the purposes of constructing a bus transportation building, a running track, middle school/high school improvements and maintenance for the swimming pool.

Inside the school building, the area just past the entryway is being reconstructed. There will be a glass trophy case front and center upon walking in the door, paired with new flooring, paint and graphics to update the section. Other changes to the cafeteria include a television that will feature a digital trophy case and veterans display, and some new seating. A storage space is being converted to a full school store, an extreme expansion from the glass case at the concession stand.

New scoreboards will be going up soon in the gym, along with new motors in the basketball hoops that District Administrator John Groh said will save custodians significant time from raising and lowering them.

“It takes eight or nine minutes to get all the hoops up and down, times every single day, times the last 27 years,” Groh said. “There’s lots of things people are excited about, but for that group, press a button [and that’s all].”

The career and technical education space is being opened up to allow for more versatility in the use of space. A new dust collector is being installed, as the prior one was original to the building and ineffective.

“In 1998 career and technical education was important, but it’s night and day now. This is a really tight space for how popular the program is for our kids,” Groh said. “Now we can blend the two [spaces] and try to meet some of those demands.”

Adding gutters and drainage outside of the building will play a key role in protecting the surrounding sidewalks and landscape.

“We put new underground stormwater, so everything that comes off the roof now, instead of just ponding up, goes to the designated area where it’s supposed to go,” Brad Hudson of Nexus Solutions, a school board voted partner of the district, said.

Improvements are being made to the HVAC system, lighting, the sprinkler system and to security. Updates to the HVAC and lighting systems are beneficial to the building’s efficiency, Hudson said.

There are also changes including window additions, additional storage space, a mothers room and a calm space coming to the school.

“If you ask any school, there’s never enough storage space, or any household,” Hudson said.

The track is coming along as expected. The bulk of the construction work will be completed by the beginning of the school year. The amenities will be usable in the spring, even if some of the grass is still coming in.

“We’re not on a schedule to host a meet, because you do that a few years ahead of time,” Groh said. “That will be something we’ll start to work towards. Try to build in capacity and people to run a meet, because it takes a ton of people to do that and we don’t have any history of that, at least in the last 40 years.”

A fundraising group is forming to create a plaza at the entrance of the track, featuring a bathroom, concession stand and, potentially, perimeter fencing.

The bus barn across the highway from the school, which will replace the downtown transportation storage building, will likely not be ready by the beginning of the school year. Engineering is still going through the process of state approval, which pushes construction of the building to October or November. Groh said work will be done in the spring or summer of 2027, with the building fully up and running for the 2027-28 school year at the latest.

For information on all the projects and timelines, visit springvalleysd.referendumfacts.org/.

Groh thanked district staff for doing a lot of the prep work of moving and covering things so that the construction crews could get right to work. He also thanked Nexus for the work they have put in to ensure the process goes smoothly for everyone involved.

“The end of the year was very busy around here, not just because it’s the end of the year, but also getting ready for this,” Groh said.

Hudson said the school is in great shape compared to other buildings they have encountered of a similar age. According to Hudson, the largest challenge the crew has faced is the building largely standing on clay soil, as it can be more difficult to dig into than other soil types.

“The oldest building will be a 1998 building that has its guts updated and a lot of finishes updated, and then we have a 2021 building,” Groh said. “This community has taken really good care of its stuff. We’re really lucky, very lucky. The community definitely had to invest in it, but they’re putting money into something that’s got really good bones.”