Ribbon cuttings held for MCSD fitness court, tornado safe room Thursday

During the first ceremony, MCSD Superintendent Theron Schutte thanked the sizable crowd gathered for attending and touted the health benefits the studio, which offers a variety of exercise options and is the first to be built on a public high school campus in the state (and one of three in all of Iowa), can provide.

Schutte also thanked the contractors who made the project, which he estimated cost around $250,000 in all, possible — Larson Construction completed the dirt work on the fitness court, and Clapsaddle-Garber Associates provided the civil engineering services.

“Essentially, between the two, they saved the district probably $40,000 towards the cost of this particular facility,” Schutte said of the in-kind donations.

The district also received a $35,000 grant from the National Fitness Campaign for the studio, and the remainder of the cost was covered through the Physical Education Recreation Levy (PERL). The superintendent welcomed several other speakers to address the crowd, including MCSD Board Member Zach Wahl, who echoed Schutte’s praise of the community partners who played a role in bringing the studio to the finish line.

Marshalltown Community School District Superintendent Theron Schutte speaks during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Tornado Safe Team Room at the stadium complex on Thursday evening.

“Like Dr. Schutte talked about, this project provides a commitment to health, fitness and overall well-being of our students and community,” he said. “This project is a great complement to go with the busiest use of space for our community, which is this tennis complex.”

As Schutte noted, the tennis and pickleball courts, track and soccer field are heavily used by the citizens of Marshalltown, and the fitness studio will also be open to the public during daylight hours unless the school is using it. Interim MHS Principal Justin Boliver, an alum himself, called Marshalltown “a special place” and said he couldn’t wait to see students and adults alike trying out the equipment.

MCSD Safety and Security Coordinator Eric Weeden served as project manager for the fitness studio, and he said that wellness and fitness go hand in hand while thanking all of the companies that worked on it. A pair of community leaders, City Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Ladehoff and Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall, offered their perspectives on the project.

Ladehoff, who was quick to point out that his daughter and two of her friends who spend so much time at his house that he may claim them on his taxes were among the cheerleaders standing behind him, cited projects like the fitness studio as “points of pride” within Marshalltown.

“I know that a community that invests in itself grows. It thrives. You can see how much people care about their community by how much investment they put into this place,” he said. “I know I’m proud of this stuff. I’m sure you are too.”

Ladehoff went on to commend Schutte and the MCSD board and staff for their efforts, and he then implored those in the audience to vote in favor of an upcoming $57 million bond issue to renovate, rebuild and expand Miller Middle School. Finally, Hall, who had earlier attended a ribbon cutting for the new Veterans Affairs clinic on East Merle Hibbs Boulevard, returned to perhaps his most common refrain: It’s another great day in Marshalltown.

“Within the Chamber and our business partners and business community, we fully understand that the value of having top of the line facilities within our school system is a necessity if we want to continue to retain and attract students to our district, workers to our businesses and community members to support all of the great things that we want to see happen and have here,” he said. “So I will land the plane there, and let’s go ahead and cut a ribbon.”

Tornado safe room

The larger of the two projects being celebrated, both in physical size and monetary value, was the tornado safe room on the west side of Leonard Cole Field, which cost approximately $3.8 million with the vast majority ($3.4 million) covered through state and federal funding.

Schutte recalled the arduous 2 ½ year process of applying for a grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which prioritizes communities like Marshalltown that have been impacted by major severe weather events. Wahl again spoke on behalf of the board and expressed gratitude to everyone who played a role in securing the grant.

In addition to serving as a storm shelter, the facility will house the concession stand and public restrooms during football games and provide locker room space for both the Bobcats and the visiting team and special rooms for the officials and trainers. As Schutte explained, the goal with the project and the larger improvements to the rest of the complex wasn’t necessarily to create the best stadium in Iowa, but rather one that would at least provide a “similar quality experience” compared to the schools MHS competes with in athletics.

Larson Construction, Clapsaddle-Garber Associates and FEH Architects were all key partners in the endeavor, and Kevin Eipperle of FEH — who, like Schutte, graduated from MHS in 1981 — said it was an honor to work on school projects.

“I wish we would’ve had a facility like this back in the day when we were in school,” Eipperle said. “We had a great time working on this project. It’s been a long time coming. It’s one of the final pieces of the master plan we did for the district’s outdoor facilities, and we’re very proud to see it. And again, we’re very proud to be part of the team to make this a reality.”

Travis Schwartz of Larson Construction came forward next and noted that Marshalltown is the second tornado-affected community in Iowa the Independence-based company has completed a major project in — after the 2008 EF-5 tornado in Parkersburg, they demolished the old A-P High School, designed it and rebuilt it all in a span of 14 months.

Schwartz has a close friend in Marshalltown who’s a cardiologist at the hospital and lost his clinic as a result of the 2018 tornado.

“We were here within 24 hours and saw the tragedy and the destruction in your community. To be here today as part of this ribbon cutting ceremony for this building behind us that can help protect students and staff from something like that is pretty neat. It’s really special to us,” Schwartz said.

He added that Larson has partnered with the district on the stadium project, the storm shelter and the ongoing Career and Technical Education (CTE) expansion, and Schwartz shouted out local contractors like B&G HVAC and Van Maanen Electric for their work on the project.

Activities Director Ryan Isgrig, who didn’t expect to be at the event until a scheduled cross country meet was canceled, praised the cheerleaders and Bobcat football players on hand for the ribbon cutting and detailed the process of preparing for a Friday night game. In past years, MHS players went to a Morton building at halftime, and the visitors usually just stayed on the field unless they wanted to walk all the way back to their locker room inside the Roundhouse.

“Now they’re gonna have an actual place to go during halftime — the home team, the visiting team, so we’re super excited about that,” Isgrig said.

He recounted an instance last spring when stormy conditions suddenly struck during a soccer game against Ottumwa, and the Bulldogs went to a room with storage equipment while the Bobcats ran back to the Roundhouse. Isgrig also remembered opposing players and fans, in the past, calling the MHS complex “a dump,” but that perception has changed dramatically since the recent work has been completed.

Ladehoff, a Beaman-Conrad-Liscomb (BCL) alum, again spoke and joked that he played football back in the days of leather helmets without anything close to the current MHS facility while touting the various other projects in progress around and making another pitch for the Miller Middle School bond.

“We’ve got a lot of things going on. We’ve got a lot of improvements made. One thing I want to caution you all with is don’t let the momentum stop because when the momentum stops, it’s really hard to get it going (again),” he said.

Hall again had the last word before the ribbon was cut and tours were offered to anyone in attendance.

“I’m running out of different ways to say it’s a great day in Marshalltown because we’ve done so many of these today. We may need to get some school district branded scissors with the number of ribbon cuttings we’re doing out here. It’s phenomenal,” he said. “Our organization also has the good fortune of running the tourism efforts for our community, and facilities like this and assets like this are incredibly important to the tourism component as well. We want to ensure that not only do visitors have a high quality experience when they visit the community, but also that they have the opportunity to feel safe when they visit the community and have that safe experience. And assets like this make all the difference in the world.”

During a brief subsequent interview, Schutte commented on the difference the improvements have already made for Bobcat student-athletes.

“I think our kids are very proud with the facilities that they have to practice and play on now, and I think it makes them even prouder when students from other schools and parents from other schools come to our facilities, whether it be the tennis court facility or this particular facility,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to do something special down the road at Franklin Field as well for the middle school. It isn’t that our facility is necessarily better, but at least now we have an equal playing field, so to speak.”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.