Almost a year after the Marion Independent School District's bond vote for the project, the Marion school board Monday night approved a $14,437,101 bid from Miron Construction of Cedar Rapids for building a replacement for Vernon Middle School.

Miron's $13,915,000 base bid for the project came in $60,000 under the next lowest bid the district received. The board unanimously approved the bid at Monday's special meeting.

Voters in the district approved an $8.8 million bond measure to pay for the school in February 2009. It will be built on the current site of Vernon Middle School, which was opened in 1924 and served as the district's high school until 1964.

Plans for the new building call for the school's entrance to be flipped over to 4th Ave., as opposed to Vernon's current 5th Ave. entrance. A pull-off lane for buses will drop students off on 5th Ave., while parents will use the 4th Ave. entrance as a drop-off point.

The building will have two floors and a basement level. The basement will house family and consumer science classes, a tech room and 5th grade music classes, as well as a fitness center, locker rooms, storage areas and the wrestling gym.

In addition to the building's common areas, the first floor will include science rooms, classrooms, a staff lounge, the school's music wing, the kitchen and gymnasium. The second floor will have more science rooms and classrooms, a conference room and the media center. A centrally-located elevator would provide access to all levels.

A series of doors will allow the rest of the school to be closed off from the common areas after school hours. The administrative offices will be located at the front entrance, making it possible for school officials to keep tabs on individuals who go in and out of the building.

Representatives for OPN Architects of Cedar Rapids, who have worked with the district on designing the building, said that the building will be able to accommodate 200 students per grade, or 800 students. Due to the size of the Vernon property and city code, expanding the building in the future will likely not be possible.

The district plans to build the school in phases, starting with an L-shaped section on the east side of the site, which would allow classes to continue to be held in Vernon during construction. Once the first portion of the building is complete, Vernon will be torn down so that the new school's common areas can be built. Vernon's gymnasium will be kept as part of the building.

Miron's approved bid included alternate additions not in the base bid, meant to make the gym mesh with the rest of the building, such as new finishings, flooring, lighting and AV equipment.

Construction on the first phase of the project won't begin until the ground thaws in the spring, but MISD Superintendent Sarah Pinion said preliminary meetings and discussions with subcontractors will begin this winter. The first phase is scheduled to be completed by May of 2011, with the full building slated to open for classes in the fall of 2012.