ROYAL CITY - The Royal School District's building project, approved by voters in the spring, continues in the planning stages, according to business manager David Andra.

A variety of staff, students, and community members have participated in developing the educational specifications for the new intermediate school.

"This is basically a wants and needs list for the new school," Andra said. "Everybody gets to provide their input on what currently works well in our schools and what needs to be improved."

The district has learned that the state will dictate much of what happens in construction. As a condition of receiving state funding, Andra said, the new school will need to be built to a certain "green" standard.

Andra noted staff participated in a state-required Integrated Design Workshop to determine how to meet that standard in Royal City. The plan for the new school will be required to accomplish at least 40 green points to meet the standard.

"With today's energy and building codes, most of the points are simple to attain," Andra said. "Other points need to be accumulated through design considerations."

The district communicated to the design team that it wants to build a long-lasting building that is cost effective to operate and safe and comfortable for staff and students, Andra said. Things that might make sense in other parts of the state or country may not make sense in Grant County.

"We were able to easily accumulate 40 points without adding costs," Andra said.

If you've driven by the school's campus lately, you may have noticed workers drilling core samples or using strange instruments in the field near the fifth-grade POD. A geotech team has been taking soil samples, using a ground penetrating radar to locate debris. There is some buried concrete that will need to be addressed before building begins.

Last month, Andra said, the district received its A+ credit rating from Standard and Poor's rating agency. The favorable rating is a result of the district's fiscal history, policies, tax base and area economy.

The credit rating helped the District achieve a good price when the bonds were sold on June 27, Andra said, and the bonds sold quickly.

According to Andra, the District should break ground on the high school addition in winter or early spring. Intermediate school construction should start in July of 2014.