Concept Preview for a New High School Indoor Activity Space and Related Updates 

The total project is estimated at $53.4 million. This cost includes:

• Wrestling room / storm shelter – $7.7 million
• Locker room renovation – $5.3 million
• Weight room / commons area – $4 million
• Aux gym area updates – $400,000
• Activity center addition – $36 million

While it looks like this construction project is a series of several smaller components, they are interdependent on each other. This cost estimate captures construction and design economies of scale by collectively planning this as one project.

• This project will be fully funded using the district’s existing funding. The Linn-Mar Board of Directors has the final voice in determining which existing funding will be used for this project, but the proposed options include using funds from SAVE (Secure an Advanced Vision for Education) or a combination of SAVE and voted- PPEL (Physical Plant and Equipment Levy) funds. No additional taxes or funding measures are required.
  • Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) is also known as Iowa’s one cent sales tax or the  ‘penny tax.’ These funds help districts pay for important projects like building repairs and technology upgrades, creating safe and modern environments where our children can learn and grow. 
  • Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) was passed by Linn-Mar residents in 2024. This  local funding mechanism provides school districts with money specifically for physical improvements and equipment needs.
  • Both PPEL and SAVE funds are specifically restricted to pay for technology buses, buildings, facilities and other physical improvements, and cannot be used for salaries.

• There will be no tax increase associated with this project. The district has already secured the funding through PPEL and SAVE funds, which are funds designated for facility improvements.

• Addressing our indoor activities spaces has been part of our district’s facilities plan for years. However, we believe all good plans should be living documents, updated to reflect evolving needs. Since the original plan was developed:
  • Girls wrestling has been sanctioned, further increasing demand for practice space.
  • The City of Marion is requiring the high school to also build an additional storm shelter if any addition is made to the existing building, and this need has been incorporated into the drafted wrestling facility designs.
  • Many of our activity and training spaces have continued to age during a time when our participation in extracurricular and co-curricular activities remains steady in some activities and growing in others.

• We have used an external consultant to ensure that the district has the funds needed to support our ongoing commitment to updating and maintaining district facilities while making these improvements to our district. The district has plans to continue addressing regular updates and anticipated maintenance issues, and has the funds to address unanticipated needs that may arise.

• While it looks like this construction project is a series of several smaller components, they are interdependent on each other. We were able to capture construction and design economies of scale by collectively planning this as one project.

• This facility is designed primarily for high school students, including student-athletes, PE classes, and extracurricular programs, and we expect that those needs will fill the space throughout the year. We will explore opportunities for additional use of the new space with our younger students and the community after the space is constructed.
• However, we do believe a new space at the high school will benefit our younger students as well. Currently the demand on high school space forces high school activities into other buildings, limiting activity space access for younger students.  As schedules and plans develop for a new high school activity space, we expect that demand to lessen at our other buildings which will improve schedule availability for younger students.

• The new facility will:
  • Provide a larger weight room to accommodate student-athletes year-round.
  • Expand wrestling space to meet the needs of both boys and newly-sanctioned girls wrestling teams.
  • Serve as a storm shelter, improving safety for students, staff, and visitors.
  • Add additional hardwood courts to alleviate scheduling conflicts for athletics and PE classes.
  • Improve locker rooms, which have received minimal updates in 30 years.
  • Convert our auxiliary gym into a multi-purpose space with batting cages and a turf surface to support a variety of different activities including speed and agility training, football, soccer, shot put and golf.
  • Provide an indoor track which would allow our district to host a competitive indoor track meet, and eliminating the need for runners to train in school hallways.

This new project would include tearing down the old tennis courts that are south of the high school to replace the parking spaces that would be impacted by adding a new facility. This would result in a net loss of only two parking spaces. (In 2024 the district created an eight-court tennis complex at Oak Ridge Middle School.)

Ongoing maintenance for this new facility and others will be covered within the district’s existing facilities budget. Importantly, school funding for staff salaries comes from the district’s general fund, so this project will not impact salaries or academic programs.

Yes! The plan has already been shaped with input from parents, coaches, staff, and community members, and we are gathering additional feedback through Lion Learning sessions in March and April.

Addressing our indoor activities spaces has been part of our district’s facilities plan for years. However, we believe all good plans should be living documents, updated to reflect evolving needs. Here are some of the opportunities we’ve used to refine our plans to the point we’re at today:

• 2010-2015 – Needs related to an additional high school indoor activity space, improved locker rooms and a larger weight room were discussed in early 2010 when updates were made to the high school, but the district prioritized other updates over addressing these concerns. 
• 2015/16 – Similar high school activity space needs resurfaced and again were prioritized behind district needs for classroom space needs at the intermediate and high school levels.
• 2022 – In a facilities planning update, the Linn-Mar Board of Directors again discussed a series of projects to address needs at the high school campus including those related to indoor activities. 
• February/March, 2024 – Stakeholders including parents, coaches and staff provided the district feedback on space needs at the high school as it related to indoor activities. This includes addressing the locker rooms, the weight and wrestling rooms, and a need for more indoor activity spaces.
• June, 2024 – A subset of the stakeholder group toured similar districts/facilities across Iowa to benchmark other facilities. This feedback was provided to OPN architects to draw conceptual plans.
• July-November, 2024 – Linn-Mar leadership works with OPN to incorporate stakeholder feedback and further refine the concepts for this project. 
• December, 2024 – January, 2025 – Linn-Mar leadership works with a consultant to discuss funding options to support ongoing district facilities needs while also supporting this capital project.
• Feb. 12, 2025 – The board held a work session after its meeting to review a timeline of facilities improvements over the past 10+ years. During that work session OPN shared draft concepts related to an indoor activities center project including a floor plan and design renderings that were based on district needs and stakeholder feedback. Additionally, Tonya Moe and Chris Fechner summarized the needs driving the design ideas, and Jon Galbraith spoke to potential funding scenarios for supporting the project. Matt Gillaspie, from Piper Sandler, also spoke about the avenues available for our district to potentially fund a project like this.
• Feb. 17, 2025 – We reconvened our indoor activities stakeholder committee to review OPN’s conceptual designs that were drafted based on their feedback, and invited the group to share their thoughts on these updated designs. 
• Feb. 20, 2025 – Members of the district’s board finance and audit committee talked about the financial aspects of the district supporting an indoor activities center and related improvements, and other next steps.
• Feb. 24, 2025 – Based on feedback from the finance and audit committee, Jon Galbraith shared a funding overview with the full board of directors, similar to what was shared during the Feb. 20 finance and audit committee meeting, of what a 10-year plan for PPEL/SAVE/PERL expenditures might look like and how this new project could fit in.
• March, April, 2025 – The district will host three Lion Learning sessions at the high school for staff, parents and the community to tour our current spaces and better understand the needs driving the project.

While our focus is on improving the high school facilities, these improvements will benefit students in many other buildings as well. Our current space constraints have pushed many of our high school practices and competitions into gym space in other buildings. These changes will free up those additional spaces for our younger students to use.

Weight Room Statistics

• Linn-Mar has 1,400 students participating in seasonal sports throughout the year.
• All of our student athletes are encouraged to use the weight room 2 times a week during season and 3 times a week in offseason. (See high school participation numbers by sport below.)
• The weight room facility is scheduled  from 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. most weekdays and many teams split their team and use external facilities to get training time to ensure our student athletes have adequate training time. 
• Tennis, golf and bowling do not have scheduled times and currently use the few open slots when off-season athletes also are using the space.

Hardwood Court / Gym Space Statistics

Linn-Mar High School students are often practicing and playing in other district locations due to the volume of school events and activities at the high school. 

• 9th and 10th grade volleyball and 9th and 10th grade boys and girls basketball practices are at Hazel Point and Boulder Peak intermediate buildings due to scheduling challenges at the high school. Additionally, the 9th grade games also are played in these intermediate buildings.
• Our Linn-Mar Youth Basketball programs include 36 teams of boys and girls scheduling practices in our elementary, middle and intermediate gym spaces. Because of our space limitations we have these 1st-6th grade students practicing basketball until 9:30pm many weekday evenings. These practices often coincide with times when our high school 9th and 10th graders are in the intermediate buildings for their competition games and practices. 
• Additionally, our softball and baseball teams use gym space in our intermediate buildings for additional indoor practice space. Currently our district has one indoor batting cage located at Excelsior Middle School, which is inadequate for more than 170 baseball and softball players.
• We additionally rent our gym space to other youth basketball teams like those coordinated through the YMCA. Our facilities supported 78 external youth basketball teams in 2024-25.
• Our high school courts also are used for PE fitness classes, intramural activities, band practices and other activities.

Student Participation in Activities 

High School Student Participation for Spring/Summer 2023-24

• Soccer (boys and girls)
  • 93 – Boys (Varsity, JV1, Two JV2 teams)
  • 74 – Girls (Varsity, JV1, JV2)
• Tennis (boys and girls)  
  • 96 – Boys (Varsity, JV1, JV2)
  • 74 – Girls (Varsity, JV1, JV2)
• Baseball 
  • 110 (Varsity, JV, Sophomore, Two 9th teams)
• Softball
  • 61 (Varsity, JV1, JV2)

High School Student Participation for Fall/Winter/Spring 2024-25

• Football – 157 (Varsity, JV, Sophomore, Freshman)
• Cross Country (boys and girls)
  • Boys – 62 (Varsity, JV, 9/10)
  • Girls – 28 (Varsity, JV, 9/10)
• Golf (boys and girls) 
  • Boys – 28 (Varsity, JV, 9/10)
  • Girls – (2024-25 season has not yet started) (Varsity, Jv)
• Swimming (boys and girls)
  • Boys – 48 (Varsity, JV)
  • Girls – 41 (Varsity, JV)
• Volleyball
  • 72 (Varsity, JV, Sophomore, Two 9th teams)
• Basketball (boys and girls)
  • Boys – 86 (Varsity, JV, Sophomore, Three 9th teams)
  • Girls – 34 (Varsity, JV1, JV2)
• Wrestling (boys and girls)
  • Boys – 54 (Varsity, JV, 9/10)
  • Girls – 27 (Varsity, JV)
• Bowling (boys and girls) 
  • Boys – 28 (Varsity, JV)
  • Girls – 10 (Varsity, JV)
• Track (boys and girls)
  • Boys – 155 (Varsity, JV, 9/10)
  • Girls – 106 (Varsity, Jv, 9/10)
• Cheerleading – 43 (Football, Basketball, Wrestling)
• Poms – 28 (Varsity, JV)