The Milroy School board took the next step in the consolidation process at Monday night’s meeting with the passage of a resolution proposing the consolidation of Independent School District No. 2904 (Tracy Area Public Schools) with Independent School District No. 635 (Milroy Public School).
This will be the final year of the Milroy school district. The 2025-2026 school year will begin on Sept. 2. Milroy has projected an enrollment of 30 kids for this year including seven kids in kindergarten and seven kids in second grade.
As the two schools work toward consolidation, one of the larger discussions will be concerning the Milroy school building. After discussion at the meeting, the Milroy board will be putting out bids for demolishing the building at its September meeting. However, receiving bids does not mean the building will be demolished. The board wants to receive the bids prior to having another community meeting, as the the topic of the cost of demolition was raised at the previous meeting.
The building is also for sale. If an interested party would like to purchase the building, the board would not act on any demolition bid.
If the building is demolished, the real estate could be sold. In addition to the school building, the property also includes a playground and T-ball field.
Once the schools are consolidated, the school boards will be combined as well. Milroy board members Mary Leach (who is employed as a teacher at Tracy Area Public Schools) and Vanessa Shoen will resign from the board effective July 1, 2026.
Board members Ashley Christensen, Adam Snyder and Scot Bowman expressed at the meeting that they will continue their terms. Snyder and Bowman’s terms expire Jan. 1, 2027 and they will be up for election in Nov. 2026.
Board member Kathleen Kesteloot was not at the meeting to give her future plans.
Once the boards are combined, all school board positions will be elected at-large.
Currently, all employees from the 2024-25 school year have returned to Milroy for the 2025-26 school year. Employees will be given the opportunity to transition to Tracy Area Public Schools, but the positions they are in may be different.
With the consolidation, the financial closing of the books will be June 30, 2026, and the final audit will be completed after that. TAPS and Milroy Public Schools use the same auditor.
Upon consolidation, all fixed assets and cash assets become ownership of TAPS after June 30, 2026. Once TAPS has a chance to decide what items from the building it can use, the remaining items will have to be sold on a supply auction.
The board also needs to decided what to do with the historical items from the school such as the graduating class photos.
In other board news:
• The first reading of the student/family handbook for 202526 was given.
