The Waunakee Community School District approved design elements for high‑school campus projects, with an estimated combined budget of about $2.5 million, district staff said at a public funding information session.

"The projects you see on the screen have an anticipated budget of $2,500,000. The school board has not approved the projects, but the school board has approved the design to take place for those projects," Steve Summers, Executive Director of Operations, said. He described the work as primarily focused on safety and ensuring the current middle‑school building's systems match the rest of the district.

Planned work and intent: Summers said the two largest items are a site‑safety project to change traffic flow on the high‑school property to avoid conflicts for students moving between buildings and upgrades to safety systems in the existing middle‑school building to align with district standards (clock, bell, public address and security camera systems, plus secured entrances). The short‑term plan would allow some high‑school departments to use space in the existing middle school, provide additional cafeteria capacity and let the gymnastics program use the middle‑school gymnasium.

Funding and timing: Summers said the board expects to fund the work using savings and project reallocations from work that did not occur at the new high school and savings from the new middle‑school construction. The design approvals will be followed by a presentation of full project proposals and budgets to the board in a future meeting in March.

What comes next: Administration will prepare full project proposals and cost estimates for board consideration; Summers said the board aims to preserve campus safety as the highest priority during short‑term reconfiguration. No formal vote tallies were provided in the session transcript at the time of the informational meeting.