Plunkett Raysich Architects, LLP Partner and Educational Planner Devin Kack presented concepts developed for the district's long-range facilities plan and helped to facilitate a referendum discussion during the Wautoma Area School Board of Education Work Meeting on August 5th at Parkside School.
Kack began his presentation by referencing the pre-survey concept development proposed to the Board in May, which included renovations to Riverview; new site, new elementary school construction; or grade level realignment with renovations to some buildings; and addressing maintenance only at all buildings. Since May, the Board has received feedback from the Community Conversations in April and May, recommendations from the Community Impact Committee (CIC) which studied needs and potential solutions, and now the Community-Wide survey taken earlier this summer by district residents.
After the School Perceptions, LLC presentation of the Community Survey Results provided earlier in the meeting, District Administrator Jewel Mucklin explained the Board is now tasked with approving a long-range facilities plan, and, in order to do that, they need to make decisions to help guide the referendum question for November 2024 or thereafter.
Mucklin added the Board is in a pivotal position, as they will need to guide a short-term or long-term vision for Riverview, determine a referendum question for the November 2024 ballot, decide if the District will be a capital or operational referendum question, and what the price point of the question will be.
Kack explained the first decision the Board needed to make was to create a long-range plan for the District by “sunsetting” Riverview as a school within five years or plan to maintain Riverview to utilize it as a school site for 10 or more years. The solution presented to sunset Riverview and allow for grade level reconfiguration would be to move Early Childhood through Grade 5 to Parkside School; move Grades 6-7 to Riverview for an interim period of time; and move Grade 8 to the high school.
Mucklin explained this option allows the District to invest the least amount of maintenance at Riverview and would allow for fewer students, traffic, and visitors in the interim, while easing expanding the high school campus into a 6-12 Middle/High School campus. The only renovation to Riverview to create a 6-7 school would be the need to create a room for band, which could be housed in the old gym current K-1 Special Education Room, and some minor modifications for science classrooms according to Kack.
After hearing the options about grade reconfiguration and outcomes that come from maintaining or sunsetting Riverview, the majority of the board members voiced support for the sunset option for Riverview. Treasurer Jamie Kineast stated by closing Riverview and going to a three building District would be the most cost effective.
Kack went on to explain how the survey results supported the realignment of Early Childhood through Grade 5 to be at one school. Parkside would need to be renovated in order to make this happen, with the science rooms being converted to 4K and Kindergarten rooms and the inclusion of in-room bathrooms for the littlest students as well as the art and band rooms renovated to core classrooms.
Mucklin provided the Board with pros and cons for this option stating that moving EC-5 to Parkside would be responsive to the Community Survey as there was a significant portion of the respondents who supported moving 4th and 5th to an elementary school site. The cons included construction costs to transition as the building, which is not currently set up for 4K or Kindergarten, the need for some additional spaces to accommodate additional grade levels, and playground equipment would either need to be purchased or moved from Riverview to Parkside.
With Parkside being the newest building in the District at 30 years old and having the most upcoming maintenance needs based on the facility studies performed earlier this year, the $9.5 million for two to five years of maintenance could be accommodated with the renovations that would need to be done to transition Parkside into an elementary school, according to Kack. Despite having the higher dollar amount of maintenance at Parkside, Riverview still remains to sunset, as it has the most functional issues in the District.
Looking at moving Grades 6-7 to Riverview temporarily would also allow for the newest portions of the building to be utilized, while the older classrooms would see less frequency of student and visitor traffic with electives being housed at that end of the building. Kack explained art and music could be placed in the original gym and a fitness center could be created. He also said the current space could be utilized with minimal improvements in order to not invest too much money into a building that would be offline within a few years.
Kack also added the current 4K classrooms at Riverview could be transitioned into the Hornet Market as the elementary school already has a secure entry. This would provide the community access to an area of the school that students and staff would not occupy. Kack added there is also office space for the Food Service Director to move to Riverview.
Mucklin also spoke about the transitioning of Grade 8 and eventually 6th and 7th grades to the high school. When looking at the pros and cons of moving Grade 8 to the high school, Mucklin stated minimum dollars would be needed at this time due to the sharing of middle and high school specials as well as the resources already in place. She explained this would be an intermediate step for a long-range 6-12 school and the District can start planning for that by putting less money in areas where they have less of a future. The cons would include travel for after school sports and additional traffic at the high school.
Board member Adam Heding asked about the timeframe of completion for the reconfiguration of schools, with Kack referring to this type of reconfiguration and renovations being done as a “Summer Blitz”. If a referendum passes in November 2024, this could potentially happen by the fall of 2025. Mucklin added by reducing the number of students at Riverview by only having Grades 6 and 7 it would be reducing the wear and tear on the building until the next steps to move the middle school fully to the high school could be implemented.
While in discussions with the Board, Kack stated in April 2023, the District was asking the community to vote on one learning community, now that the facility studies for all the schools have been published, the Board needs to look at a district-wide solution and put the best path forward.
Following the discussion, the Board Members stated they needed more information from PRA regarding the minimal cost to sunset Riverview within five to 10 years; the cost to add middle school core classrooms to the high school as an addition; the cost of the deferred maintenance at Parkside and Redgranite; and the cost of renovations needed at Parkside to create an Early Childhood-Grade 5 School. This would ultimately provide for a three-campus solution and eventually get Riverview offline.
Following the discussion, the Board went on to approve: Nicole Van: WASD Accounts Payable/Human Resources Coordinator; Danielle Coussons: Parkside School Special Education Teacher; Kyle Thompson: Wautoma High School Social Studies Teacher; Ronald Thill: WASD Mechanic/Buildings and Grounds; Kelly Bolles: Redgranite Elementary School Teacher; and the hiring of: Madison Weisensel: WHS Business and Information Technology Teacher; Brooke Blader-Lucht: Riverview Elementary School Teacher; Brianna Misitano: Riverview Elementary School Counselor; Christine Sluke: Redgranite Elementary Physical Education Teacher; Veronica Peña, WHS English Language Learner Teacher; Shiping Liu, WASD Full-Time Bus Driver; Derek Haumschild: Football, Grade 7 Assistant Coach; Kara Block, Volleyball, Grade 8 Assistant Coach; Christopher Lipke: Track and Field, WHS Head Coach; Chase Mastricola: Football, WHS Assistant Coach; and Andrew Dowling: Parkside School Science Teacher; the creation of a WHS Head Girls Wrestling Coach; the acceptance of a community member donation for the PAC Lighting Project; the Huddle Up Virtual Speech Services Contract; and the approval of the Extracurricular Code Revisions.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Mucklin and Board President Nicole Lehr opened the RFPs for Construction Management Firms, which included: CD Smith Construction; Findorff; Hoffman Planning Design and Construction, Inc.; Kraus-Anderson; and Mirion. Interviews for Construction Management Firms will be conducted at the Aug. 12 Monthly Meeting.
The next WASD Board of Education will be held on Monday, August 12, in the Wautoma High School Library. At this meeting, the Board will continue discussions on what direction they wish to go with the November 2024 referendum question. The Board will vote on a referendum question for the ballot during their Work Meeting on Monday, August 19, at 5:30 PM in the Parkside School Library.