ADAM AND TAMMY FELDMAN DONATING $25,000 TO THE NEW ATHLETIC COMPLEX
WEST LIBERTY, IA – West Liberty area residents, Adam and Tammy Feldman, are giving the West Liberty School District $25,000 for the new athletic complex. The Feldmans live on a farm south of Atalissa and both graduated from West Liberty High School. They have three children – Nick (Becky) Feldman, Jason (Ashley) Feldman, and Abby (Edgar) Ortiz – also West Liberty grads, and eight grandchildren. Four of their grandchildren attend West Liberty with two more joining in the next few years. Adam and Tammy said they are supporting this project for multiple reasons, one being the quality of education their family has received.
“We were happy with the education our children received and felt they were well prepared for college,” said Tammy. “We understand the importance of strong academics but having good facilities seems very important to families these days, especially for athletics.”
Tammy moved to West Liberty at the age of one when her father, Dick Cornick, was hired to be the high school principal and athletic director. In the 1960s West Liberty was one of the first districts in the state to create a middle school joining grades 5 - 8th and he was the first principal of that building. The district later made the decision to combine grades 3 - 6th and he served this age group until he retired in 1993. Adam has also lived most of his life in West Liberty and both were involved in extracurricular activities. Tammy, a former Vice President of Finance at HON Company, said extracurricular involvement is excellent training for kids entering the workforce.
“When I worked in the corporate world, I found it was very important to have experience working on a team,” said Tammy. “We did a lot of recruiting, and it was obvious when job candidates hadn’t participated in extracurricular activities.”
The Feldman children all participated in Comet athletics and have been big supporters of 4H and FFA. Their three children serve as Swine Superintendents and work the Swine Show at the Muscatine County Fair each year. Superintendent, Shaun Kruger, said elevating the athletic facilities will ultimately impact all programs in the district.
“When you look at top-performing schools, it often starts with athletic programs,” said Kruger. “Successful athletic programs attract good families and ultimately all extracurricular programs benefit from strong enrollment.”
Adam and Tammy’s daughter, Abby, pursued accounting like her mother and serves as the Business Administrator for the West Liberty School District. Abby leads the financial strategy and is responsible for budget and fiscal planning for the new athletic complex.
“School finance is not easy,” said Kruger. “Things are always changing and there are a lot of parameters around how, why, and when money is received and spent. Abby has been a critical hire. She is very competent and a great resource to have in place for this multi-million-dollar campaign. I’m grateful for her service and for this extremely generous gift from Adam and Tammy.”
The school broke ground on Phase I ground prep in late September and the contractor expects to wrap up in the next two weeks. In recent meetings, the contractor informed the district that groundwork has gone extremely well.
“We’ve had regular meetings throughout the fall with the groundwork contractor,” said Activities Director, Adam Loria. “He said it has gone exceptionally well. There were several concerns about the condition of the property and settling – a lot of unknowns. He said the ground is in great shape and compacted very well meeting all codes and standards. They are driving 120,000-pound machines across the football field area and not even making a dent.”
When the new complex was announced the district immediately assembled a committee of local expertise to advise the construction process. Adam Feldman serves on that committee along with local business owners Bill Simon, Ken and Todd Morrison, Tim Nichols, and Matt Daufeldt. They all have experience in construction. Adam served as Fair Board president when the Muscatine County Fair completed a $1,000,000 infrastructure improvement project. Adam Loria said this group of guys has been critical for the district.
“It is awesome to have these guys on the line for questions and advice,” said Loria. “One of the first issues we ran into was a water main that ran through the center of the complex. We were given the option to build over it or add $50,000 to the budget and move it. We brought the construction committee in, and they advised us to spend the extra money to move it. We have consulted with the group several times throughout the project and will continue to do so. It makes my job a lot easier and I’m very grateful for their support and this incredible gift from Adam and Tammy.”
The next step in the project is the construction of the above-ground fields and facilities. The school district received six bids on Dec. 1 and selected the firm Knutson Construction to start work after the first of the year. The bid came in at $5,532,000, which is under budget and includes filling and turfing the football, baseball, and softball fields. When this project is complete West Liberty will be only the second high school in the state of Iowa to have all athletic fields fully turfed.
“I cannot stress enough to the community how much this is going to impact our school district and the town,” said WeLead Director Ken Brooks. “Our school district is doing things that truly set us apart as a leader in education and it’s not just about athletics. We are getting calls from families looking at West Liberty every week. I get calls, Shaun gets calls, Adam gets calls and community members are getting calls. The next three to five years are going to be very transformative for the town.”
Contacts:
Shaun Kruger, West Liberty Superintendent 319-627-2116
Adam Loria, West Liberty Activities Director 319-627-2116