Next Steps for the High School Task Force

Last night the Board of Directors accepted and certified a petition from the high school task force calling for a special election that would authorize the sale of $11,650,000 in general obligation bonds. Following that, they passed a resolution ordering a special election for September 13, 2022. So what happens next? First, let's discuss how we got here.

In early February, the Board convened a task force of community members, parents, teachers, and various stakeholders to evaluate our current high school space to determine what, if any updates or renovations were needed. They examined the building carefully, discussed their findings and determined that yes, there were areas in our building that need to be addressed and that those needs could not be satisfied within the confines of our regular school budget. Among their findings included the following recommendations:

A Safe and Secure Entrance: Much like the elementary school prior to the construction of the new entrance, visitors and students can enter the building without going through the main office, which is virtually a blind entrance. We have partially mitigated this with the installation of cameras and a door buzzing system at the main entrance, yet that doesn't totally solve the problem. Once a visitor is buzzed in, they can bypass the office and enter into other academic areas of the building. The task force recommends creating a safe and secure entrance where patrons pass through the offices prior to entering academic spaces of the building.

Renovate, Remodel, Repair: This recommended work closely mirrors what was previously completed in the K-8 attendance center. Our building is going on 25 years old and just like your home it needs updating, maintenance, and renovation. During a downpour, the windows leak. Our ceiling sags throughout the facility with bent and broken ceiling grid and our lighting system still uses the old fluorescent light bulbs that are inefficient and obsolete. The flooring is worn and has been patched. And the elephant in the room when it comes to the renovations of this building: the HVAC system needs to be replaced. Truth be told, the system has never functioned properly; even when the building originally opened. In the interim, much of the equipment has reached 'end of life' and we are continually pumping money into a system that is inefficient, and trying to procure parts that are becoming obsolete.

At the same time, the task force realized it was necessary to look with an eye toward the future particularly as our community and enrollment grows. The task forces recommends that part of our renovation include reconfiguring some of the classroom and support spaces inside the building, in essence providing us with more instructional spaces for classrooms and offices. The task force also identified two key areas that should be considered within the scope of this project. 

Career and Technical Education Addition: Specifically speaking, our Agriculture and Industrial Technology space is the target of this improvement. You've all seen our building, it is in very rough shape. Under this proposal we would raze the current building and construct a new classroom addition specifically for our career and technical education classes that includes not only new classrooms, but lab spaces as well. At the same time, dependent on the exact location of this addition, it could provide an opportunity to add parking where the current building is located. 

High School Gym Expansion: When we evaluated our gym space it was determined that the current space just isn't sufficient for what we need now or in the future. I understand that when we say 'gym expansion' most folks automatically go to 'athletic facilities'. While there is no denying the fact this proposal will be beneficial for the activity program, that is really a secondary consideration. When we think about our our academic program holistically, we need to consider the fact that the gym first and foremost is a classroom. Our charge as an educational institution also includes promoting a healthy and active lifestyle. Currently, physical education is taught 8 periods each day and our class sizes aren't getting any smaller. As enrollment grows, so too will our need for gym space for instruction. We are not far away from a scenario where we will need two concurrent physical education classes. 

During the 2018 facility task force work, the group explored an idea that would have required the closure of Washington Street between the two attendance centers. When that was proposed to our community, we learned that was not a move that was supported by the community. When this new task force convened this winter, I wasn't all that surprised when the same idea resurfaced. This time we posed this specific question in our community survey, which affirmed what we already knew: closing Washington Street is not supported by the community. While we are still determining locations of the new additions that are being proposed, I can assure you that closing Washington Street is not part of the calculus here. That will not happen.

So what is next? Well, at this point we are a very long way from any of these ideas coming to fruition. As a start, we need to make certain that we answer any and all of your questions. I presume there will be a lot of them in the coming months, and frankly I hope there are. You need to be an informed voter and we'll be spending a lot of time over the course of the next several months leading up to the election answering those questions. The fact is, this will require an investment from all of us.

Then, come September 13th we'll all get to decide. As a community is the investment worth it?