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March 12, 2008 Eagle Valley School Board-Special Meeting Narrows choices down to two by Karin L. Nauber The Eagle Valley School Board met in a special session on Thursday, March 6 to look at another option for the district in regard to buildings and costs. The new option, requested of Contractor Jack Josephson, was for remodeling the Eagle Bend building into a preschool through 12th grade school. After looking at the choices, the board members each went around and gave their individual top choices. The top two choices finally agreed upon are similar and both include keeping a school in each town. It also won't cost as much as estimates gathered by the Independent News Herald staff previously reported. Those numbers were based on the operating levy instead of the bond and that was why the numbers were so high. Based on a $10 million levy at an average of 4.9% interest over 20 years a $50,000 residential homestead would pay $204 more in taxes to the district if the bond where approved. The same $10 million at an average of 5% interest over 25 years would result in the same property adding $183 in additional taxes. These figures were presented to the board having been prepared by Ehlers and Associates, Inc. The figures do not include current levies for the original Clarissa district bonds. They are just for discussion purposes and may be more or less than is reported here. A bond for the heating system for the Clarissa building was in the amount of $450,000. All of the choices which included remodeling at Eagle Bend included a new gymnasium there. Board Member Sharon Notch said looking at the options from a financial viewpoint, her first choice was to turn the high school into a preschool through 12 building with a new gym and to see if the Clarissa building could be turned into a community center. Her second choice was to have the preschool through 12 in Clarissa, but that involved land purchasing. Her third choice was to build a new 7-12 school in Eagle Bend or right outside of town. Most board members commented that if they renovated the buildings and did it right, they would have two fine looking buildings. Board Member Kim Lind said that because they have no idea what education will be like in 25 years, they should do their best to keep two good buildings open and thereby keep their options open. Board Member Jay Eckel said that he had really looked at the Eagle Bend building and felt that anything could be done with it. "If we tear out the walls and make open space it could be absolutely gorgeous. It would be very expensive to build one like that new," he said. He said he would like to keep two separate schools and thought it was a good idea to separate preschool through 8 from the 9-12. Board Member Marie Busch said she was for keeping a building in each town. However, while she said that a new building would not be what the old one could be, having had experience with remodeling several homes, she knew it was costly to remodel and the numbers were never accurate. She also said it was hard to visualize what the high school could look like with remodeling and she would like to see some artist's conception of that. J. Eckel said he would not be for fixing up Eagle Bend unless it was done right. Chair Joel Godding said that his first choice was to keep Eagle Bend and Clarissa separate and to build a new 7-12 in Eagle Bend with a gym and to update the Clarissa facility. His second choice would be to still keep both facilities open, but to remodel and add the new gym at the high school. Board Member Tom Eckel said that he was "terribly undecided". His main concern continues to be the open enrollment problem. "If that doesn't turn around, it doesn't matter what we do," he said. He said he was trying to look at what would be most sellable to the public. Board Member Twila Pierce said that her first choice based on financial considerations was to put everything in Eagle Bend with a new gym. Her second choice was to keep schools in both towns with remodeling the high school and the necessary upgrades to the elementary. Superintendent Stephen Twitchell said, "I am not going to make a recommendation on what to do, but I am going to recommend you not do anything (nothing). If you keep the same old same old, you won't have a district. Economically, it would be more efficient to have one building, but I feel if you only keep open Clarissa you will have large numbers to the north open enrolling in other districts. If you only keep open Eagle Bend you will have large numbers to the south open enrolling in other districts." Godding said that if they lost even one student from the district it was like losing $89,000. Twitchell added that it would probably end up being $100,000 lost before very long. Elementary Administrator Duane Motzko said that he was in favor of keeping both facilities open. He had concerns about the many elderly in the communities who were on fixed incomes. He also had concerns about open enrollment. He too felt a new gym at the high school was necessary as the old one is dangerous. Principal Deanna Mattson-Millar said that a new school between the two towns would probably be the most efficient, but because of the expense, would probably not go over with voters. Her second choice was to remodel the high school into a 9-12. After a discussion about why there were not visitors at the meeting, Twitchell reiterated that he felt strongly that if nothing was done, the district wouldn't last. Lind asked if now would be the time to send out surveys? J. Eckel asked what good it would do? "I'm not being critical, I just want to know," he clarified. Lind said she would like to see what others in the community are thinking to make sure they go down the right path. J. Eckel said that those who are really for it or really against it would be the ones to respond to a survey and no one else. He felt that the survey would not be valid because it would be emotional responses. Lind said she thought it would be a good way of canvassing. T. Eckel said the best way to do that would be door to door. J. Eckel said, "Or bring it to a vote which is what it comes to anyway." The board discussed ways they might get a feeling of what the voters would think of the options. "Remember who we are building it for-the kids," said Godding. T. Eckel said, "We are doing it to keep the district alive. That's why we're doing this. We can educate the kids right where they are without an elevator." J. Eckel said that kids are embarrassed to go to the high school and that people associate the look of the school with the function. Twitchell said that he thought the high school could be made into a building the kids would be proud of. Godding said in looking at the numbers, the cost for what they want to do would be approximately $6.5 million. Twitchell asked to present options to vote on so the meeting could move along. Option one was to keep preschool through 6 at the elementary and upgrade the building as needed and to keep 7-12 at Eagle Bend with major remodeling and adding a gym. This was motioned by Lind and seconded by J. Eckel. Lind thought they should put a couple of options out there so that no one thought this was a "railroad" job. Notch said she thought it would be important to hear from other groups in the community and volunteered to meet with senior citizen groups in the two cities. Twitchell reminded them they needed to vote on their first option. The vote was unanimous for this option. The second option as presented by Pierce and seconded by Notch was to remodel the Eagle Bend school to a preschool through 12 with a new gym. T. Eckel asked, "Didn't we decide to stay in both or build new?" Godding said there was a motion on the floor. The vote was called and was split. Godding called for a roll call vote. For this option was Lind, Pierce and Notch. Against was T. Eckel, J. Eckel, Busch and Godding. The option failed. The second option then was presented by Notch to remodel the elementary and build a new 7-12 between Clarissa and Eagle Bend, closer to Eagle Bend. It was seconded by J. Eckel. All were in favor. Lind said that these two options were probably the least expensive. There was much discussion about the timeline for narrowing the choices down to one. Twitchell said that he would talk with Joel Sutter from Ehlers and have him provide input on when the timeline should be set and it would be made available for the regular board meeting on Monday. |