School board ready to hear high school cost estimates

The Fairfield school board decided it was at a point of needing expert input on costs and building sites during Monday?s work session devoted to the high school facility.

Jeri Kunkle said she?d like to know if the most current Shive-Hattery plan could be scaled down and still work.

?Maybe we should take this plan and revamp it,? she said. ?The ground studies have been done.?

Amy Miller talked with a building designer in Des Moines.

?After hearing the history and scope, she wasn?t comfortable in working on it,? said Miller. ?She did advise we look at our original study.

?I think we need to come up with a budget number we?re all comfortable with and go back and ask what that will buy.?

Superintendent Art Sathoff agreed.

?We have this amount of money, these are our needs, now what can we get for this money? could be our approach,? he said.

Board president Jennifer Anderson said throwing out the previous study is throwing out money from taxpayers.

?My thoughts about renovation have been blown away in talking with people,? said Kunkle. ?People have told me that if we?re looking at spending $12 million to $15 million on an addition and renovation, why not build new??

Amy Miller said she?s had the same conversations with community members; if money were equal, an all-new high school would be preferable to pouring money into an old building.

?I?m getting the same emails as you guys,? said Jerry Nelson. ?But I?ve also talked with probably a hundred people who won?t give an opinion. They tell me when they vote it down, that?s when I?ll know their opinion. You?re never going to hear from some of these people before a vote.?

Sathoff said if they come up with the right plan, he would be comfortable promoting a $12 million to $15 million project.

?But I don?t want to spend even $8 million if it?s not going to make anything better,? he said.

?I am leery of building too much and extending the footprint,? said Sathoff. ?I don?t want the project to get too big. I feel we could have an all-new building that?s smaller and more efficient.

?Maybe the board needs to decide once and for all if it wants to consider building new or not.?

Polled individually, five board members replied no for various reasons.

?If costs are even, if we spend that much money and a new building is a better way to spend the money . . . I want to spend the money in the best way possible,? said Anderson. ?I?ve had people say they don?t want another band-aid.?

The board agreed that administrators should invite Shive-Hattery and other architects, engineers, builders or contractors to provide cost estimates with the board?s priorities.

Sathoff shared sample floor plans for high school science labs and music suites for 21st century learning with guidelines for square footage.

?I started looking for answers about American with Disabilities Act requirements for renovating an existing school,? said Sathoff. ?It appears it depends who you ask, what the answer will be. Basically, any area that will be used by students needs to be ADA compliant. Areas such as a mechanical room, not used by students, would not have to updated to ADA codes.?

Anderson polled each board member on their top five priorities for the high school facility.

All seven board members included the air handling system ? HVAC ? as a priority; it was top priority for Bob Waugh, Rich Metcalf, Nelson and Jeremy Miller.

Sathoff has suggested that two, up-to-date science labs could be shared among the four high school science classes ? biology, chemistry, physics ? that use labs. Regular classrooms would be used for those science classes on non-lab days.

Three board members specified the need for new science labs ? Waugh, Metcalf and Nelson ? while the other four, not against science labs, used language that talked about new class spaces more generally.

?Every classroom, every activity area in every program should be size-appropriate, designed for interactive teaching and learning methods and adaptable for future uses,? was Anderson?s top priority.

?I want everything Jennifer wants,? added Kunkle.

?And I agree with both of them,? said Amy Miller.

Jeremy Miller said classroom sizes and subjects grouped together ranked second in his top five priorities.

Metcalf, who said he agreed with Waugh about new science labs, also specified all classrooms should be sized ?for today?s learning methods and made adaptable to future uses.?

Renovations that incorporate building security and ADA compliance were top of the list for Amy Miller.

Waugh, Anderson and Metcalf also included ADA issues as a priority. Anderson further elaborated, ?Construct the traffic flow so it is well-planned for all, with security a top priority. All ADA and fire code compliances should be met.?

Nelson?s suggestion is to build two science labs above the old shop area, in the northeast corner behind the main high school.

?Move the wrestling room and create new lockers on the first floor,? Nelson said.

He?s heard before a request to expand the auditorium?s stage.

?As for band and chorus classes, build out the stage and make it bigger so music classes can be held on stage,? he said. ?Performers like to practice where they will perform, so this can be used for daily instruction. And moving the wrestling opens up storage behind there.?

Kunkle included a music suite idea in her priorities and said the auditorium is already scheduled for practice concerts. And a fifth-hour study hall is held in the balcony seats.

?If we?re talking about making the music department bigger, we need to be getting the locker rooms updated,? said Jeremy Miller. ?Sports and fine arts both need to be treated well.?

Waugh said first a new addition should be built, move students into that, then clear the whole top floor to begin renovations. HVAC would need to start there.

?Instead of building an addition to the north, add it out front,? he said. ?We can incorporate a second elevator there. I?ve walked through the building three or four times since our last meeting and sat out front, looking at it.?

Metcalf agrees with building out front, to the building?s south.

?I?ve been over there eight times in the last few weeks,? he said. ?Would there be a way to connect the new and old portions, meeting the hallways together??

The board accepted two resignations in a special meeting Monday, held before the scheduled board work session.

The resignations were from Kari Mahler, second grade teacher at Libertyville Elementary School, effective at the end of the school day Friday; and Fairfield High School custodian Michael Ament, with 15 years? service in the district, effective at the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

Mahler has accepted a job with Buena Vista College. A long-term substitute teacher, Rachel Meyers, will teacher the second grade.