Meskwaki Settlement High School

The Meskwaki Indian Settlement is located along the Iowa River, just outside of Tama, Iowa. There are close to 1,300 tribal members, 800 of whom live on the settlement. In 2000, the Meskwaki Settlement School was established to not only prepare students educationally, but also to preserve the language and culture of the Meskwaki Tribe. The school serves pre-K through 12th grade and has had steadily growing enrollment.

On this project, Knutson’s knowledge of construction allowed for accurate budgeting so the designers could provide the full scope of what the owner wanted. 42 bid packages were sent out and the bids received were within $3,600 of the $17.5 million budget — within 1% of the budget! The packages were put together toward the end of each design phase and the project as a whole came in under budget.

The Meskwaki Settlement High School has achieved LEED Silver certification. The project made it through the final review without a single request for clarification and earned every point pursued for both review phases. A total of 37 points were awarded — 4 more than the 33 required to achieve Silver!