School board looks at future of closed building

From the Wednesday, May 5, 2010, Fairfield Ledger:

Opportunity Center numbers corrected

In the Tuesday front page article ?School board looks at future of closed building,? the additional savings on having The Opportunity Center at Lincoln Elementary School according to technology director Jason Kurth were a $2,000 one-time cost to replace a faulty firewall at the present site, which would not be needed at Lincoln, and between a $1,000 and $1,200 annual savings on phone and Internet service.

From the Tuesday, May 4, 2010, Fairfield Ledger:

Fairfield school board members are looking into what should be done with Lincoln school after it closes this spring.

During a board work session Monday evening, auxiliary services director Fred McElwee explained closing the building completely would save about $333,000 each year.

But, he continued, because completely shutting down a building ?isn?t a great thing to do,? the district will still have a yearly expense of about $16,227 to pay for minimum heating, water, lawn care and general maintenance while the building sits empty.

McElwee said the district?s Opportunity Center, which is currently in the basement of the Fairfield Senior Citizen Center, creates a yearly expense of $22,550 for the district, mostly because of rental payments.

If The Opportunity Center moved into a portion of Lincoln school, the district would save $11,320.

Plus, superintendent Don Achelpohl added there would be an additional savings of about $12,000 a year because the district wouldn?t have to pay for Internet and phone service for The Opportunity Center. Those services are already available at Lincoln school.

The Opportunity Center teacher Todd Warnecke has stated he supports the relocation to Lincoln school because more students could be served in the larger space.

The Opportunity Center is one of the district?s methods to keep students in school and earning a high school diploma. Achelpohl said earning a diploma is important because a high school graduate can earn $10,000 more a year and is less likely to be unemployed.

?If we can increase [the number of students earning diplomas],? said Achelpohl, ?it would be a good reason to move.?

Fairfield Economic Development Association and Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Brent Willett spoke with the school board about the possibility of establishing a regional career academy in Lincoln school.

?We see an opportunity for the education community to interface with the business community,? Willett said, explaining that the academy would allow students from area high schools to take classes geared toward the needs of local industry while earning high school and college credit through Indian Hills Community College.

About a year ago, representatives from Fairfield, Van Buren and Cardinal school districts, businesses and manufacturers began discussing creating a career academy, Willett said, adding he wants to get the players back around the table if there is an interest.

At the career academy, Indian Hills would offer classes teaching the skills local business owners have identified they need employees to have, such as machine programming, robotics, mechanical skills, business administration, financial skills and more. Those classes, taught by teachers from participating high schools and Indian Hills, could change as needs change. Students would attend classes at the center for half the day and spend the other half at their regular high school.

For the complete article, see the Tuesday, May 4, 2010, printed edition of The Fairfield Ledger.