Board in Bayfield eyes school future
Rapid growth and overcrowding a problem nowby Patrick YoungHerald Staff Writer
Article Last Updated; Monday, February 22, 2010 12:00AM
Growing pains at the primary school are forcing the Bayfield School District to consider building a new school or moving students back into the old middle school building.
No matter what option is chosen, the price tag will be high. Renovating the old middle school would cost about $600,000. A state assessment recommended spending $6 million to rebuild the entire campus.
Superintendent Dean Hill said a renovation might not be sufficient.
“If growth continues as is, (renovation) would not be adequate in five years," he said.
Bayfield has a primary school, elementary school, middle and high school. Total enrollment at the schools reached 1,384 during the 2009-10 school year - a 29 percent increase since 2000, said Amy Lyons, the district's director of finance.
At a discussion on Presidents Day regarding the district's Master Facilities Plan and future enrollment projections, board members debated ways to gauge future enrollment, including an idea to gather hospital data on the number of Bayfield babies born.
“I guess it comes down to how much we're going to accept the premise that we're going to continue to grow the way we've grown," said board member Don Mooney.
Though overcrowding threatens to become a districtwide issue, the board spent much of the meeting discussing its options to ease overcrowding at the primary school, which houses the district's kindergarten and first-grade students.
Already past its capacity, the campus has scrambled by adding two modular buildings, giving the school four additional classrooms.
The modulars cost $200,000 each and have eased overcrowding, but they have done nothing to address the need for more cafeteria and gym space, board members said.
The district has the option to move students into the old middle school building, currently occupied by a nondistrict preschool, although the building would require renovation to fix, among other things, a leaking roof.
The other option weighed by the board was construction of a new school, which would cost millions. The deciding factor, other than cost, seems to be how much the district expects enrollment to increase during the coming years.
If enrollment were to slow or decline, a renovation of the existing middle school building might be a sustainable option.
If enrollment numbers were to grow substantially or even continue at the current rate, any renovations done could be rendered obsolete within a matter of years.
Whatever course of action the district decides to take, state funds could be available to offset some of the cost.The Building Excellent Schools Today program, or BEST, was created by the Colorado General Assembly and provides school districts financial assistance for school renovation or new school construction. In a year when the state is cutting its funding for education, alternative sources of capital are especially important for the district.Timing is a factor for the district to apply for BEST funding, as funds are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis “If we're going to apply for BEST, we need to know as much as we can yesterday," said School Board President Barbara Wickman.
Older schools with health or safety issues are given priority under the BEST program.
Though the board was not aware of any current health or safety issues associated with the old middle school building, the leaking roof was cause for concern.
Multiple board members speculated that mold could become a problem at the school if the leak is not fixed but acknowledged there is no evidence this actually has taken place.
pyoung@durangoherald.com Patrick Young is an intern at The Durango Herald.
