CODY, Neb. -- A school district in north-central Nebraska is moving forward with plans to build a new school. Earlier this month, voters approved a $3 million bond for the Cody-Kilgore School District to build a new pre-K through 7th grade facility.

“Honestly it wasn’t just whether my kids were going to be safe in the school. That’s certainly a huge concern, but it was also is the community we live in going to survive if there eventually isn’t a school,” Emily Johnson said.

Johnson has two kids in the Cody-Kilgore School District.

“More importantly, in the end I’m a community member. I really started to feel like it was a community issue. The whole town was going to have a big problem,” Johnson said.

Earlier this year, News Channel Nebraska showed you some of the issues with the district’s current elementary school, including plumbing and heating problems, crumbling ceilings and flooding.

“Just make sure that your kids bring an extra-heavy coat because the heat may not be working that day,” School Board Member Tim Nollette said.

For years, the district has been trying to build a new school. In July voters overwhelmingly approved a $3 million bond for the project.

“The board was really excited because at 70%, it really solidified that this is what we’re going to do. If it would have been closer, it would have been a tougher discussion,” School Superintendent Ryan Orrock said.

“My father and I own a small business together, and I own a small business of my own. Thinking of living here without a school was hard to imagine. Everything was on the table before the vote, like will we stay here if the bond doesn’t pass,” Johnson said.

Now, school officials are coming up with the plan for a 10,500-square-foot building. The new pre-K through 7th grade school will be located right next to the current middle and high school. The district hopes to break ground this fall and have the new building open for students at the start of the 2025 school year.

“It helps with the morale of the students and the morale of the teachers, and hopefully it will be good for the community,”  Nollette said.

Even though the bond passed, the group Cowboy GRIT is still raising money to build a playground at the school, along with other projects.

“A bigger dream is a community center that could also fill some of the gaps that we had to let go of to get this bond passed. We had to really make a no-frills design to get it passed,” Johnson said.

Dreams Johnson hopes will keep the town thriving for years to come.

“There’s a lot of possibility, and we’re feeling pretty optimistic,” Johnson said.