A new bond referendum for the Greene County School District is looking to build a regional academy and new high school in Jefferson.

Community members lead by Chris Deal, Sid Jones, Dan Benitz and Doug McDermott presented the idea of building a regional academy and have it operated by Iowa Central Community College, through which all the current college-level courses are offered at the high school. Deal took a trip to Pella last fall as part of a Leadership Iowa venture and saw first-hand how the Pella Career Academy operated.

“In Pella the way it’s structured is that if a student aligns their schedule correctly, they can graduate high school and at the same time leave with their AA (Associates Degree) their two-year degree. So again a fantastic opportunity for those students.”

Iowa Central tried to get a bond passed last December for a $29.5 million regional academy to be placed in their geographic-center of their district, which was Lohrville. However, the bond failed to get a supermajority of 60-percent and received 58.5-percent. Greene County was one of the counties that voted “no.”

Deal and Jones say another key component is that the school district can decide what classes to offer at the regional academy to fit their local industry needs. Iowa Central President Dr. Dan Kinney says they are flexible in terms of setting up the different classes.

“Let’s say we fill the IT (Informational Technology) world. We don’t need anymore IT people, then pull that one out and what are we needing in the region and put that one in. So we can kind of adjust at that pretty quickly, on the fly and on the run. I think this is a great concept and I love it.”

The Greene County School Board heard from five architectural firms on Monday, including Neumann Monson who designed the Pella Career Academy. The Board is expected to select an architect firm to start work on the potential bond referendum in April.