001All right, it's uh six o'clock, so we'll start this special meeting of the school district board of directors on time here. U special meeting, so we follow most of the regular protocols, but we don't have public comment at special meetings. And we'll just kick it off with a roll call here. Mr. Iverson >> here. >> Mr. Lynch >> here. >> Mr. Mackey >> here. >> Mr. Schik >> here. >> And Mr. Taylor >> here. >> All right. We're all present and account for. We need to then approve the agenda. We have two items. one related to approving the revised midyear budget for this for this year and an action item for discussion and action on choosing a potential new screen site location. So, we need a motion to approve the agenda. >> I'd move that
002we approve the agenda as published. >> I'll second it. >> Got a second. Any discussion? >> Mr. Iverson. >> Hi, >> Mr. Lynch. >> Hi, >> Mr. Mackey. >> Hi, >> Mr. Sch. Mr. >> Mr. Taylor. >> Hi. >> All right. Both of these items on the agenda are are action items. So, we'll we'll begin with the 2526 fiscal year midyear revising budget adoption process. Chair will bring us up to date and then we'll see if we can enterain a motion to approval of that process. So following up on the summary that we provided two weeks ago, uh no change to the revenue figures, uh we were able to based on the expected increase in the health insurance benefits for this second six months of the year, we were able to offset the loss of
003revenue that we expected to or that we plan to see from the state. Uh the one change that we do have is a use of the beginning fund balance in general fund of $200,000 which will effectively fund the preschool expenses for this first year that we've been operating. Those were not built into the June budget that that was adopted. At that point we had hoped we're planning on a partner to be operating that for us. So we do have expenses to get that running this year. Um going forward we will have that built into the general fund budget so that there will not be a need for beginning to support that basically. Aside from that there are no other changes to what you saw what was presented two weeks ago. >> Okay. Do do we
004have any questions? anything that's come up since then clarification on. >> All right. Then then we need a motion as suggested here to approve the appropriations amounts as suggested and the use of the beginning funds balance that just went over. Well, I'll make a motion to uh approve the revised appropriation resolution and fund balance change. Do we have a motion? Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Any further discussion? All right, we'll take the vote on that. >> Mr. Iverson, >> hi. >> Mr. Lynch, >> hi. >> Mr. Mackey, >> hi. >> Mrs. Shik, >> and Mr. Taylor, >> I motion. All right, we have a read revised budget approve appropriation use of the beginning fund balance. Well done, Eric. Our budget looks good. All right, we'll move on then to the uh
005big ticket item tonight potential new school site. We've been at this process for going on two years and we'll we'll start first by we ask Rick to just refresh us all on this timeline road we've been on when we started what the major milestones of that were and then we'll proceed to talk about it more and you can take a vote tonight on the choice of tonight's move forwarding. So, I'll turn it over to Rick to refresh highlights of the refresher. >> Start out with a slide that I think we're all familiar with. This came from a board retreat uh even preceding the identifying of the facility master plan and beginning all beginning all of that. Uh we've been adhering to this throughout the process referencing it. I'm sure it'll come up this evening. Uh
006this process actually began uh April of 2024 when we first held interviews for the uh master plan support. Uh school districts are required to conduct a master plan um review and rebuild it about every you know seven years, five to seven years. Our district had gone a little bit longer than that. Um so we engaged uh three different firms to discuss who would who would be doing that. We ended up with working with RTA uh over that summer between April of 2024 and October of 2024. into that fall. They conducted a facilities review. We're in each of the buildings, looking in the corners, behind the walls, up on the roof, taking pictures, documenting, and if you've been on the website, you can track down all of those images and their initial uh findings. Uh from
007that, starting in October, like the last week of October, I believe, I met with the school staff met at the high school um just kind of say this is the state of the state. This is where our facilities are right now. This is how they're um rated compared to other school facilities or facilities that be ready for um high quality learning. And that facility overview came in two two pieces, the learning environment and the and the physical physical structure. Um that was followed by five additional community meetings. uh one at each of the schools, uh one at a church, one more that I forget where it was. Also, uh myself and another board member might have showed up at a Rotary meeting or a GOP meeting or other community meetings to share uh this is
008what's going on. Once we got kind of the initial lay of the land out there in towards the end of 2024, uh a year ago now in January of of 25, we began with a master planning advisory committee. I think initially there might have been 45 or 50 people there, probably 30 that held on throughout the entire process. We use that group um to share new findings and also get feedback about what else we should be looking into. Um we began by reviewing all those uh facility assessments by looking at and trying to understand what academic adequacy met and then we had invited our first uh expert uh our demographer uh Shannon to come and explain how he saw that Pagosa was trending for the next next few years. Um we followed that up with
009another meeting in February where we started to look at school finance how does how do capital projects in schools how are they funded and how's that different from the daily operating of schools and essentially daily operating of schools is built off of uh property tax and capital projects are built on top of bonds which are mills added to property tax for a shorter period of time not indefinite. Uh we also use that time to just look at the buildings and talk about advantages and disadvantages didn't activity with the impact on whether or not we should renovate the existing buildings or build uh new buildings. At that time I believe the assessment on repairs was 80 $85 million or so might have been slightly higher than that. Um that group uh then not everyone but the
010majority of that group said hey we should really look at building new buildings if we're going to spend that much money on repairing the buildings that we have. Um so in March uh we were asked to come back with a little more information. People were skeptical like what is the life span of a school? Um and our schools are I think the core of this school is now 70 years old. And of course, the yellow brick building across the the concrete playground is 100 101 years old. And then the middle uh the elementary school is about 55 or so years old. The core of that school we talked about is that a reasonable length of time for a school uh and what would it mean to our students? What would be the impact of having
011high quality uh facilities? How could it impact learning? So, we looked at some research around that and we uh began to do an kind of a building option activity looking at different configurations that we might use to support uh the the prek through 8 programming because we were looking at two buildings um that were in great need uh of repair. Um we then came back in April. We reviewed that data. Um and uh at that time the the EMPAC had suggested uh to the board that they consider a a preK8 model uh combining rather than building two separate facilities, combine them into one facility. And that savings on building one facility instead of two is around $20 million just on the initial cost. And when we talk about bond, we were talking about the interest
012that comes with paying back a bond. And so that's slightly less than $40 million when you look at payback dollars. So it seemed like that was a fiscally responsible thing to do. Plus pay models are um very efficient and and effective. It's a good way to deliver deliver education. Anytime you can eliminate a transition from one building into another, that helps helps students out. So, um that was the initial recommendation to the board and the board chose to pursue that at that time. Um, we looked at some early site data back in April as well, knowing that the school district had land uh up off of Trillo, which is kind of behind the high school the high school property itself and uh the Vista property which on the corner of Park and in Vista. Um,
013and we talked a little bit about best grants at that time as well. Going into that summer, we did a community poll. So, we worked with uh Hansen Communications and Newbridge Strategies to do an initial polling to see what people would tolerate uh in terms of bonds. We had some early numbers about if we didn't get a best grant and we had to build. At that time, we were talking $123 million building, would people say yes to adding that much to their property tax? And at that time, the margin was nominal. uh like I think 53% or 54% were saying yes even with the whole amount which is which is a lot to ask for a $123 million bond. Um but at that point still the board was uh cautious and said uh we need
014more information be you know before we proceed and for sure when we did say in that poll hey what if we had a best grant that could pay 45% or so of that would that make you say yes and that number jumped up significantly. And so that became critical which is why we're here saying like we have to pick our spot now so we can get after this best grant. Um we in August we met back with the impact we review that polling data and we started um some more site analysis by doing this initial like what site safety and security looks like. Um and that was good. There's a the woman that works for RTA is part of an international board that looks at school safety and she came in and did a presentation.
015Um you may or may not be surprised to see that the thing we need to be concerned most is not about shootings that happens very rarely but just about traffic flow. Um that's where most accidents on cap campuses happen is from car collisions. Um and so she looked and shared with us about both sites and what that would mean. um they did a little the beginning analysis there. Following that meeting, we shared that with the school board and the school board requested further site analysis of uh those sites be viable to to build a K8 school on. It's quite a large structure. It's slightly less than two times the size of the high school, which is a significant building, 140,000 square feet. Um so then we contracted with SGM engineering to do that site analysis.
016uh and they looked um you know at water looked at everything from drainage to soil structure to uh wildlife and protected plants and basically came back and in November uh we reviewed that again with the MPAC and with the school board that then began um some listening sessions that we conducted in in right at the beginning of December. I think we did one for the community and then one for staff and we had a board meeting and that brings us to where we are now with um the board need to provide some direction about which site to pursue so we may begin to submit our best. >> Yeah. I I just a couple more if you don't mind. I just want to say thank you to all the people that contributed along the way. Uh
017Lisa Scott was a huge advocate for keeping the community engaged. Uh she's uh absolutely just an incredible asset to that process. All the people that served on the impact, our own staff that was engaged, uh building leaders, all the community input, we just it felt good to have people show up and express their concerns and their interest and why they want to be here. It's interesting about uh public schools. Unless there's something controversial, people tend not to show up. And we really we like when people show up and say, "Hey, this is how we're feeling." So, I think every month from now on, I'm going to introduce something controversial. No, I'm just kidding. Uh but we do we do really appreciate uh people coming and I'm I have heard to the person everyone say that
018they understand the challenges that the board is facing with a very difficult decision. they respect the board's ability to analyze the available data and and make this tough decision. Um, and I and I'm just going to say I hope that once the board has done that that everyone will be able to get behind what initially drove this, which is our kids need highquality places to learn uh and to be. And so uh I I hope that everyone in this room is going to become an ally for us in in pursuing that. our your kids, our kids, they deserve that. So, thank you. >> Yeah, thanks Rick. Thanks for thanks for that. That's almost two-year process we've been involved in here. And I'll u let me just say a couple things and then each board member,
019we're going to have a chance to make comments and then we'll move along with the process of making this difficult decision. Um so, let me just echo also, you know, we want to thank Lisa and everyone that served on the impact for all their time. That was a an entire year. The first meeting was last year this time. Um, highly engaged people that came the first meeting were there at the 10th meeting, 12th meeting and so forth. So, a huge community input there. Um, we wouldn't be here without that. Secondly, it later in the fall as we started to review more of that and the responsibility started to shift to the school board, people came. Many of you here in the audience now came. We've had just tons of comments and input from very passionate,
020dedicated people to the community and to our kids here. So, we appreciate that. We've had nothing but respectful comments, thoughtful comments, and and really helpful comments all all along the way that we appreciate everybody making here. Um, lastly, u the board here, this is one of these this is the unsung hero job that the board has put in a ton of time. Also, these are volunteer folks here who who do this out of the goodness of their heart and the hope for the best of kids in our community and put a lot of their own smarts and intellect into this as well. So, we have a great group of people here that, you know, if I were sitting there, I trust them that they would make a make a good decision. So, appreciation to everyone
021who's been involved in that. So with with that then we'll go around the horn as we say here and just let each board member make comment as long as you like about just kind of where your thoughts are now after all of this funnel of ideas and input has sifted through your brain and and what your what your thoughts are now before we uh contemplate action. So start with David let you take the floor and you know say as much as as much or as little as you like. >> Change my name. later. Um, yeah, I got um, I'll echo some of those comments. I think the process has been really as good as it could be. I'm proud of the process we went through here in terms of engagement. It sometimes feels like it's
022moving really slowly, but that's necessary. Um, and so I think the transparency and the engagement with the community and all those things has been really good. And um I've certainly learned a lot in the process. Um you know, been really kind of a roller coaster between all the things where we started and where I thought we were going and um I think the board in general has done a good job of keeping an open mind through that whole thing and not presupposing any particular outcome here. So just like to make make that um I did my notes. You want to go back to the um whatever our Yeah. Yeah. That thing. Um I just did mine on there just you know we met I think that was like my first board meeting maybe we met
023over in Hot Springs and we you know sketched this out on the board. But um I thought it was good to come back to this and you know that really has been a driver of this whole process. So, um, regards to sites, I just I'll just go through those real quick and my thoughts. Um, you know, safety and security, I think, uh, anything will be a big upgrade to what we have. Um, the difference in my opinion, I think there is I have some concern I think there's some concern of the teen drivers and the young children. um I don't like that combination and you know that there's probably ways to mitigate it but it's going to exist as a safety concern in my view. Um so that's you know I guess a mark for
024the the business site in that way. There's no conflict there with that particular thing. you got a little more space also to you know design your design your drop offs and design your you know traffic patterns uh to the best of our ability. Um so that's probably the main one there on that line item. There's a little concern about you know evacuations or some major thing like that that's out there on the high school side as well. Those are hopefully never very rare occasions, but that is a concern that's brought up that you know isn't isn't really solvable if you put it there. Um fiscally responsible this site you end up with uh you end up with more for less essentially. So, it's hard to keep the check mark on that side for that one
025as well. Um, the high school site is more expensive a lot due to the foundations, but then also moving around the stuff that you need to move around, which then puts you into some kind of constraints where you just don't quite get as much for your money at down there. So, I think that, in my opinion, falls pretty clearly on that side. um high quality learning again I think that one uh the both will be a great upgrade um the point I take on that one I think is the you know the admin that we've spoken to are almost unanimously for the Vista site and them being the people that are responsible for delivering the education puts a pretty high uh weight I guess on that opinion. Um for the flexibility in the future that
026will also transaite just it with the high school site being pretty much completely full. If you put the big building there, you really limited your options in the future on, you know, who knows who know where Posa goes in 20 years. You know, the demographer is not going to tell us that. Um, and so if you've got no place else to build on that site, then you know your next thing, whatever that is, is going to be difficult or more difficult. So I think keep your options open better. um at this site u it's obviously got to be supported by the community and I know there's a lot of sentiment um there's a lot of sentiment towards downtown keeping things downtown um more walkable those things are are valuable I think but I think the
027tradeoffs um or what's the best way to say that >> initially and and I was there as well uh it Sounds like the high school side is it, you know, makes sense on the on your initial thought, but if you have to work through all the trade-offs that that causes and um it starts to not be so clear anymore. And so I think my hope is that, you know, the community would support either one things. Um, and once they, you know, are educated about the trade-offs and what you're getting for your money, um, that, you know, they would support the business side just as well. Um, you know, I think the aligning with the district mission and goals, either one of these be I don't think there's really a difference there. Um, and the last
028one, the last one's the one that's harder. Um, you know, high school site at least after school. um those things are more accessible. Um after school things, be able to walk to more parks, all those things. I think that clearly has benefited the high school site. Um I'm hopeful that, you know, I guess one point I'd like to make is that even at the high school site, it's not going to be the same as it is today. You know, it's a mile away from here, a mile plus away from here. Um, you know, I think getting elementary kids to the library, I don't know how many are going to walk a mile plus to the library and maybe maybe have to run a bus even from the high school site to really get those kids
029to the library or, you know, get middle schoolers over here to the businesses or fro yo or whatever. Um, you know, I think the traffic patterns will change regardless of where you put the building. Um, and it is going to be different regardless. So, I think, um, if you can facilitate some of that with buses from the high school, you could also do it from Vista. Um, and, you know, it'll be different, but I'm not sure. Um, I don't think we're going to leave abandon the downtown. I guess I don't feel like that's going to happen. I think it's fiber enough on its own. It's going to suck people back in. um and they'll figure out a way to get there and I hopefully the schools can facilitate that with some transportation as well. So
030I think that >> yeah that's that's it. That's my one. >> Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Thank thank you David. Thanks. >> We're just we're all just going to give our opinions like that and then we'll decide if has a motion to be made after that. We'll turn to Amanda Sh. >> Well good job see that's hard to go first. Um so I appreciate that. Um I mean clearly we have you know we made the strengths and risk category the last time we worked together um from both sites. We use this I think to anchor conversation and data further research um inquiry more you know the the criteria that used um and ultimately my my vote is for a school. So unanimously my vote is for a school. Um and I think that um the sites
031prioritize some different things. So I do not feel like there is a a wrong vote or potentially even a loss. I just think there's different priorities at the sites and um you know where I sit and the conversations that I've had with the community that I have been able to serve and um I think that the biggest risk is only in the limitation of our collaboration and so when I think about what site prioritizes Um ultimately the students in which we sit here and say are the priority and who we serve. Um I lean in heavily um to the other site. I lean heavily into the community cohesion of the downtown site. I lean into the walkability access that is potentially viable to parks PCI. Um maybe bus routes getting there easier to and from.
032Um, I truly believe that schools are civic anchors. This is a repetitive thing. I said the other time that I I believe that that is wholeheartedly um what was the main purpose of the high school being located where it was. It was intentional to our town um to the core of who we wanted to be and um we have too much land. We own too many things to say that we do not have the ability to expand areas of extracurricular activity. Um, even though it will look different no matter where we go, um, I definitely want to say that I believe that, um, and the the position that I have to to vote in a direction again as I vote for a school and my priorities align more with the high school or yeah, the
033high school site, the downtown location. >> Thank you, Mackey. They cover >> they cover two sides of the coin. That's for sure. >> Um I'm sure I'm not the only one here on the board that's lost a little sleep over this decision. Um, and I I've mentioned to a couple of you that I've driven around the loop at the high school so many times I thought Sean might call cops on and the best society. And I will also add because I've been with all these guys how much input, how much time and effort gone into trying to make the best decision. And I agree with Amanda in that our our first and foremost important part of this decision is to provide a safe and high quality learning environment for our students. So where area best
034addresses that and also number two up there after safety and security was fiscal responsibility and it does cost more to build down downtown. That's a huge concern to me because it it costs a lot more and it also will require some additional some of those funds that we need to be doing other things with are going to go into putting the building in in the hot downtown location if that's what we decide to do. And that's a concern to me, a huge concern. As we mentioned, these buildings are old and whatever building we build will probably still being used 50 years from now. And none of us have a crystal ball to know where it needs to be 50 years from now. But you know, one thing that I think that uh you know, one
035of our listenings up there is support the community. And some people have said to me that, you know, this is Pagosa Springs down here. And I agree, but Pagosa Lakes is Pagosa Springs, too. and that's part of our community as well. And I don't want to shun them as though they're not an important part of our community. And that to me has to factor in some decision as well. So I I'll guess we'll we'll vote here in a little bit, but but all those decisions and all the things have already been mentioned. You know, we've all discussed it. We've all thought of it, people that have come and addressed it and and emails and text messages and, you know, it's going to be probably a little bit of a controversial decision no matter what we
036do, but in the end, we I hope that everyone will support the decision that's made and let's get on board with getting an appropriate facility for our students because I think most everybody body agrees this building and the elementary building suitable anymore. It's time to do something. >> Well, one thing about having three people go first is that I don't have to say anything, >> but I'll say it anyway. Um, first I wish to express my deep thanks to the members of the master planning advisory committee. I know this is some of this is going to be redundant. I hope you'll bear with us and to the community members and uh and their sincere comments. And um I also want to thank district staff and administration for their uh great cooperation during the times in
037which I and I'm sure other board members have sought their knowledge and advice. So again, my sincere thanks from me personally. So in my analysis of the two proposed sites for a preK through8 school, uh I've considered the seven criteria that you see in front of you um that we initially defined uh to make the decision on school type and then on-site choice. And I'll mention each one of these uh criteria in my analysis of one or the other proposed sites. And I also want to emphasize many other points that I consider are relevant to the task at hand, which is the actual choice of site for our new pre K through8 school. And when I wrote this text, um instead of Vista, I just wrote uptown site. So when I mention uptown site, that's
038what I'm referring to the Vista site. So first I want to begin with an assessment of the perspective high school site. And one thing that I I think has been brought up now um by director Iverson is that an important point uh about the proposed high school site uh and the potential impact on the downtown economy. So this issue was brought up in one of the recent board meetings. I don't recall which one. Um but the high school site for the K through8 schools has sometimes been referred to as a downtown site when in fact the high school site is not it's not truly downtown. Again, Director Iverson's always already mentioned that. Um, in fact, it's on the southern edge of town, the extreme southern edge at about 1.5 miles or perhaps our conversation another
039time perhaps more than that away from Highway 160, Highway 160 in the downtown area. Uh, if you go via Hot Springs Boulevard, which then turns in, of course, to Light Road. Uh, so this differs substantially from the middle school's current location, which is of course right here, and it's right downtown. So, just a little clarification, excuse me, for the K through8 school to high school site. Uh, to me, it seems unlikely that middle schoolers, certainly not elementary schoolers, that middle schoolers would be routinely frequenting downtown after school, uh, unless picked up by a parent. And I think this would be much the same at the uptown site. So, I don't think there's much difference there. So in my in my view uh it seems that the impact on the downtown economy if indeed there would
040be any sub substantive impact at all would be essentially equivalent for either of these sites that we're considering. So some very positive attributes u of the high school site uh support by the community which is one of these uh seven criteria uh through numerous public meetings. Uh the board has heard many comments concerning site preference and the clear preference of those who have spoken out has been the high school site. Uh I and I believe all the board members have carefully considered all public comments and we've received quite a few email letters and we sincerely appreciate the input from the community. Uh several potential advantages of the high school site have been noted and again some redundancy here but proximity to potential afterchool opportunities. Um, as was noted uh numerous times during recent public meetings,
041the high school site would be relatively closer to local venues such as the public library, Yamaguchi Park, Town Park, South Park, Community Center, the river, and Reservoir Hills. So, we all we all know that proximity. This carries with it for parents that have um who drive their kids and they have both high school and K through eight parents. Of course, there's going to be an easier drop off at the high school. So, I have no doubt about that. I think that's a very positive attribute. Uh alignment with district mission goals and outcomes. Another one of our seven criteria. Uh it's safe to say I think that both the high school and uptown sites are consistent with these important aspirations of the district. And so, I don't see any difference there. uh potential for participation of
042middle school students in certain classes offered by the high school. So this is a clear advantage of the high school site and would allow relatively easy access of the high school curricula uh to uh advanced middle school students who would be of interest. A bit more of a challenge with that uptown site. And so I'd like to go on now to some concerns about the manageability of the proposed high school site. Um major issue number one for me is the sheer population of students and staff. Uh currently this high school site has approximately 600 total students and staff. And whether that number is 550 or 625, I think it's approximately with San Juan Mountain School, the Matt building and everything approximately 600. Now, if the K through8 school would be added to the high school
043campus, the projected population would be greater than 1,600, including the current 600 plus 920 enrolled uh elementary school and middle school students plus approximately 102 staff. So, this uh 1,600 or actually more than 1,600 is is approximately seven 2.7 times the current population of the high school campus. And so, um, in my view, that's crowded from the start. We build it down there, it's going to be crowded from the start. Major issue number two, traffic congestion would be an immediate issue because Fifth Street, and can can you pop that to high school site easily? So, can can you point out, Rick, where fifth street is right here. >> Thank you. So, Fifth Street would be the single final entry point as we have a design so far. Uh, and hence a bottleneck for all traffic
044into and out of the K through8 school. Uh, bus traffic would confound confound this congestion. And even with staggered beginning and ending times for the high school and K through8 students, uh, and perhaps you'd even have to to stagger the elementary versus uh, middle school students, I don't know. the K through traffic alone would be almost certainly overwhelm the capacity of the two throughways fifth street and then the feeder street is sixth street over there which was going to feed right into uh fifth street. So um it's possible that certain workarounds could be considered and um talk about losing sleep at night. Mr. Mackie. Uh, I've looked into depth with this issue and I just didn't find a very good solution, but I I suppose we could find a workar around for that. Um, but
045overall my assessment of this this formidable congestion, which would be a a two a day problem at the high school site, would be substantially less of a challenge at the uptown site. Not incidental, but it would be less of a challenge at the uptown site. So a major issue uh number three for me at least is uh one of our points uh safety and security uh safe it's easy to say the important concerns about the high school site have been raised by law enforcement leadership particularly Chief Rocken soccer uh concerning safety the congestion of traffic and humans at the high school site carries with it a relatively greater risk of accidents between automobiles and more importantly as director Iverson mentioned between automobiles and kids or other other pedestrians. So the the chances are just uh
046more likely the the the greater number of people you have. So concerning security, the concentration of greater than 1600 students and associated staff at the single site creates uh in law enforcement parlament a target-rich environment. For me, this is a critical concern regardless of whether the chance of an emergency is even small. And the chance is small, but it's still a major concern of mine. So uh in an emergency situation, administration uh our administrators have emphasized that it is unclear how uh so many students at the K through8 and high schools could be safely evacuated given the limited path for egress uh all of which are to the north of campus at least the roads and no egress exists and I think likely ever will exist from the southern eastern or western boundaries of the
047camp of the campus. So, those are my uh major concerns. There's some other issues. Uh, as we heard over and over again from community members and um and others. Uh, there's been substantial concern um voiced about the loss of athletic fields if a K through eight school is built on the high school site. Um, at certain times of the year, the current field space is a is at a premium and any loss would of course confound that situation. community use of the fields would be largely lost. Uh in this regard, the board heard an impassion plea from one of our high school softball athletes uh that we preserve these fields for use for um other than our sanctioned uh Colorado High School Athletic Association athletic teams. So the softball is not one of those, but
048they're an important team as we heard, very important team for many of the young women in our community. Uh I spoke with Jana Jana Ash of the middle school athletic director and we looked at uh use of athletic field space and in principle we agreed that the field space at the high school if the K through8 schools there would probably minimally meet the immediate needs of the middle school and high school athletics. But of course we would immediately be at the maximum capacity. Uh meaning that there would be no open space for other afterchool activities other than athletics. Uh, finally, my own own careful assessment of the perspective field space, and I tried to hide from Sean a little bit more than you did. Perhaps you revealed a lack of area for the discus throw
049event um of track and field. And uh this would have to be resolved, but my analysis really yielded no good solution so far. There's simply no space for that. and we would lose the current discus throwing um spot that we have. So another issue number two here is the wastewater treatment plant very close to the proposed K through8 building. The town I believe will soon construct treatment plant that would be located quite close to the proposed K through8 building. Uh even though it's possible that the treatment plant may not produce substantial odor, uh its proximity to our prospective new K through8 building is certainly not an attribute. Uh this issue would not be a a concern of course at the uptown site. Uh another issue, uh potential conflicts and negative interactions between preK through eight
050kids and the high school students on that campus. And I just want to point out that this concern was voiced by several of our district administrators. Uh issue four, uh the two-year construction timeline for uh which is approximate for the new K through8 school at the high school site would uh disrupt routines and activities at the high school campus. No doubt including the Pagosa Springs High School and the San Juan Mountain School. Of course, as I think Director Mackey said, we can't fully anticipate the extent of the disruptions, but what is certain that construction at the Uptown site would not disrupt the high school area whatsoever. So, I'd just like to conclude on this that uh I think like several of the board members, I was initially uh wanted to make the high school site
051work for a new school. And although the high school site is attractive for several reasons, in my assessment, it's it's not the most prudent option uh somewhat because of its close proximity to the forthcoming wastewater treatment plant, but also because of the formidable challenges that I see associated with the obvious daily traffic bottleneck that would ensue on on Fifth Street. uh the sheer congestion that would come greater than 1,600 C humans uh on the global high school campus and the elimination of critical athletic field spaces. Finally, with regard to the potial potential growth of the student population even 20 years into the future or 30 years compared with a perspective uptown site, a high school site clearly has much less potential for expansion of the building itself and almost no possibility for expansion of field
052and play spaces. So, if everybody will bear with me, I have an analysis of the uptown site. Nobody's throwing tomatoes yet. And uh first of all concerning safety and security that's uh one of our main points. Uh law enforcement has indicated a clear preference uh for that uptown site or I infer that they have uh indicated a clear preference. Fiscal responsibility has certainly been mentioned mentioned and it's one of our criteria based on the average cost estimates of four independent general contractors who are experts at building schools. This data was collected by the architectural firm RTA with whom we've been associated. The cost for the construction of the uptown site is approximately $6.4 4 million less than that estimated for the high school site. And this equates to an approximate 5% savings. And in that
053calculation, I did take out the questionable $1 million that was on the high school site before. So, uh, instead of 7.4, which you read into it, it's really 6.4. And so the uptown site is more coste effective and this relative savings will go a long way towards funding other crucial district needs including a muchneeded renovation of that baseball field for the high school baseball program. Uh a much needed expansion of the San Juan Mountain School. A much needed gym for the Pagosa Peak Open School. a new auxiliary gym uh at the high school and a muchneeded renovation of the high school stadium complex including the soccer and football field as well as replacement of the track which is definitely on its last legs. And finally, uh we might have a potential athletic fieldhouse at the
054high school stadium complex which is common place in most other school districts. So flexibility of facilities to accommodate future needs one of our criteria. It's clear that the uptown site has an advantage for expansion of both the K through8 building play spaces and athletic field spaces. Another point is support by the community. As I noted before, uh with all great respect, the majority of community members who have spoken out prefer the high school site and I I have great respect for those opinions. We we we got a lot of really nice and well-written letters and comments, but I would like to make a few comments concerning the proximity of that high school site uh to afterchool opportunities. First, I just want to restate that high school site is not truly downtown. It's not like this.
055You don't just walk here. Um but it's located about a mile and a half down on the southern end of downtown. Uh second, indeed, the current elementary school is close to our public library. Uh but the library clearly would not be close to the proposed high school site. Again, I think Dave, I think you mentioned this. Um so, uh parents would have to transport their kids to the library from their elementary school kids at least to the library much the same as would happen for the uptown site. There might be a difference in distance, but still somebody's going to be picked up and dropped off. Third, over the past two decades, I've personally spent a lot of time downtown uh area during afterchool hours, and this is just my observation. I will say this is
056my observation. Uh it is rare that I ever saw any K through eight kids in Town Park. I often s see kids who are, you know, preschoolers who are with the people vacationing, etc. at Town Park. Um, I don't recall seeing kids at the river, uh, the Riverwalk, Yamaguchi Park, apart from, you know, there's lots of soccer programs and other athletics going on. And I haven't, I don't really pay attention to the skate park. So, truly, the middle school kids might go down to the skate park often. And I've also rarely, maybe never, seen uh, middle school kids up on Reservoir Hill, except for the kids who I help train, the middle school kids uh, uh, who are participating in cross country. So I don't have much knowledge about the frequency of K through8 uh
057students at afterchool programs like at South Park or the community center I have to say but overall my personal experience is that few K through8 kids actually take uh afterchool advantage of the parks, playgrounds and features near downtown or the high school site. I want to emphasize that is my observation not anybody else's. So finally, concerning any other destinations located downtown of businesses, uh it's my assessment that there would be essentially no difference in the convenience between the high school and uptown sites because it's most likely that from either site the K through eight kids would have to be driven to such destinations by their parents rather than walking. Um, it's also my opinion that if uh the Uptown site is chosen, it will be incumbent upon the school district to the best of its
058ability to provide bus transportation for K through8 students uh to a central site downtown or to a few um specified downtown destinations so that kids can indeed have ready access to the the valuable programs such as those offered by the public library. Um there was a quote I w I wish to uh add a quote here from one of the uh email letters that we've seen that uh resonated with me and that offered a perspective that may reflect the life situation of many community members who were not able to participate in the meetings the district held over the past 16 months. And uh this is a direct quote. It was a personal reflection this person said. So this process is challenging. The process this person's refu referring to is of course site choice. Often the
059loudest voices represent only a small portion of the community. In my experience and this is this is this other person taught. In my experience we rarely hear from parents in Vista Trails in the Pines number one and number two or Hatcher even though that is where many families live. As you know from the crowded buses, many of these children are not participating in after school programs. They simply go home. If the school were located in this area and the area this person is referring to is the Vista area, I feel the natural progression would be for additional afterchool options to pop up on this side of town. Far more students could benefit from extracurricular activities. So broadening access and increasing participation is what truly serves kids not simply making things more convenient for those already
060involved. So that's the end of that quote. So one of our uh criteria again high quality learning environment with regard to the time in which school is in session at least I think both the high school and uptown sites would offer a learning environment that is far superior to the environments of the current elementary school and and middle school. Uh another point sports a broad range of student activities and needs. Another one of our criteria with regard to activities that actually occur during the school day. That is not after school. The uptown site will be superior to the high school site mainly because there will be more than adequate outdoor spaces immediately adjacent to the school in which K through8 students can assemble, engage, play in other activities. So notably uh the uptown site will
061provide a basis for bolstering middle school athletics particularly softball, football and track and field and for me as well well as athletic directors uh this is a real substantial advantage of the uptown site. So concerning drop off um of kids by parents uh a drop off at either site either new site might be somewhat more uh crowded than the current situations of the elementary and middle school because of combining these two student populations. U however it seems clear to me that the uptown site will be less congested than what would be experienced at the high school site. That is my opinion. Uh, another point concerns district staff and administrators. This is very important to me in my decision. In the past few months, I've had numerous conversations with different district staff and all administrators. Almost
062all district staff that I've spoken to support the Uptown site. Likewise, every single one of our eight school administrators strongly prefers the uptown Uptown site. And indeed, I I asked one administrator to rate the challenge of residing in the limited space environment of the proposed high school site, and that administrator ranked it as number nine with number 10 being the most challenging. I did challenge that person like, "You sure it's not a no, it's not." So, one one administrator on the side uh stated to me, "Please don't pin us in." End quote. at the high school site because it's clear to me that the professionals who actually do the job of teaching and manage our K through eight kids strongly prefer the new school to be located up the uptown site. So, uh I'll finally
063conclude here. Uh the uptown site is the most viable choice for our new K through8 school for the following reasons. It is more fiscally responsible option uh with an approximate $6.4 million advantage there. In my opinion and in the opinion of law enforcement, it offers greater safety and security. Uh the uptown site offers future expandability of both the building and field spaces and there will be lesser congestion of traffic uh and of the human population. So thank you for bearing with me. >> Thank you Tim. you can tell she is a research scientist by training and was very thorough. We really appreciate that. Um, I'll conclude with with my comments and be a little more a little more brief, but echo some of the things that we that we've heard here. I'll just say just
064the way I came at this was a little impure in the sense that I didn't look at the criteria real hard at first because deep in my heart I wanted it to be at the high school site. I'm an old Pagosa guy. I have deep roots here. I have family that came here in 1800 and have been here since. and my mother's names on several of these buildings around here with a gym and a elementary having served on the school board etc. So we we've pitched in and been part of these decisions and so I think of the heart of Arcela County as being old Pagosa and so I I thought about this as how can we make it work there and that's that's what I wanted. Um, a struggle I had was that as
065all the data came in and all the analysis came in and all the ways to make it work came in, it got harder and harder to square the idea of u how much money we would spend and what we would get at those locations and what some of the secondary effects would be. So I started thinking about it as kind of three concentric circles. So there's the schools themselves, and by the way, they don't get debated a lot because they're identical at either site. Where the kids will be from the time they walk in the front door until they walk out the back door during a school day is an identical spot. I honestly look forward to having discussions about what kind of lab space, what kind of STEM space, and how those are going
066to be incredible learning places because obviously that's that's why we're doing this. I mean we we don't have those kind of spaces today. We like to >> like to have those. So identical buildings the site out uptown likely and I really respect a lot of the analysis that emails we got said the numbers could swing a little this way or that but it's likely that will be several million dollars cheaper. So identical building a little cheaper. And if I say the next outside circle is what what's available right outside this play space and athletic space for the next phase of what kids do. They go to school and spend time in the building and they go outside for PE and sports. And you know the fact is if we build a building at the high
067school site we didn't improve our state of what fields and spaces we have. We have the same and we're short space now. If you're a junior high administrator here and you want to have a football game, you got to call the high school and see if that day is open. You don't have a field. You don't have a track during our track meet. You don't if you're doing track and field day at the end of school, you have to call and ask permission somewhere else. And that state of constrained outside spaces stays the same. So if we we built a $120 million school, we didn't get better at the next sphere. What matters to me? What do kids have access to right outside the school? It just didn't get better. I wish I wish it
068would. Um the the third circle is what are all the ancillaries around the school? In that case, downtown location is better. Riverwalk and sidewalks and reservoir hill and all all the things. It is better in that regard. Can we compensate for that with bus schedules and a variety of things that have been suggested here there? Um I I I think we can. I think the the primary way we make a decision is on those two circles and then we work our best to make everything in the third circle, the ancillary things as good as they possibly can be. And I think as Tim said, a lot of kids who live closer in that neighborhood would take part in many more things after school. So in in the way that I kept trying to make the
069high school site work, um it came around to saying we we could and it would cost more and we would stay constrained. Um, I know Butch and Tim, but you know, I think people thought initially from some of the reports that everybody was just leaning toward the other side because it was cheaper. We actually went down there and spent time walking around on foot and trying to find ways and places that the architects hadn't thought of for how you could situate a school and still have those spaces. And to the best of our ability, the if you you moved the school so you didn't pay $10 million to mitigate drainage, then you lost more fields. So the the tradeoffs kept being netting out in the minus the harder we tried to make it work there.
070Um, so as much as I wanted it there, I started shifting to would it be better for our kids with with what the building would be and what's immediately available to them outside the building. Would it be better uptown? And I started leaning in that direction. Um, couple other last things that tip tipped the seesaw for me a bit too was um I know the traffic studies said 83 won't change much and I buy that. That's not the truth. But I I worry about um 10 years 20 years from now that we would wonder why we routed every single school age child from prek to 12 in our county. We routed them down two roads to one spot. Like, why did they do that? I I think I would wonder that, you know, down the
071road. I think I would wonder why, knowing full well, someone would say, "Did you know they were building a sewer plant?" Yep, we knew it. And you picked that right out the window and there it was. And so, I think I would feel stupid. I'd have a hard time explaining to my daughters who hopefully will be moving back here and raising their kids here just as my wife and I did, but we we escaped for a while. But the the magnetism and draw of Pagosa brought us back and we're thrilled that we were able to do that. And I I think they wonder what were you thinking? We're still trading fields. We're still, you know, >> yeah, >> walking over and getting tours of the sword plant for we don't have anything else to do.
072we would just feel like we might have made a foolish call relative to those to those things. So, in the end with those things, I think the last kicker is there's things we need at the high school. High school needs some repairs. There's a San Mont school that's a wonderful asset at our facility, but it's bursting at the seams. It needs an addition. Um, I coached basketball for years. I know that your if you're on the off schedule, your practice isn't at 3:30, it's at 6 PM because we have one gym high school. And that doesn't sound like much, but you know, you you tell your team, you know, school's out at C at 6. And they scatter and go do Lord knows what and finally make it back at six. So, it' be wonderful
073to have an auxiliary gym and we can prioritize those other things we might like, but we know money's money's tight and it'll this will be a difficult cell no matter what. But if we can with wisely spending money for a K8, we have leftover money to fix a couple of those problems or add a couple things that we don't have today. then we will all have one in a bigger sense of the sense of the word. So wi with that that that was where I came out reluctant, you know, reluctantly saying if I have to make this call for future kids, we only get to do this, my calculation is about once every 30 years. You know, that school was built in 26. My dad went to that school. The skilled school was built in
07454. The next school was built in ' 67. Next school was built in 96. for about 30 years, you know, so we get we get to do this. And boy, do we have to come together and make it make it happen. Um, and so with that, I'll just I'll end there and say we need it. There are two great places. I wish they both could work. I wish wish we had the money to do a junior high and an elementary downtown up. We'd be talking 160 million. It gets numbers that get kind of mindboggling. So with the idea of how we how we could convince our community that all of us need to chip in, pay our fair share and have better facilities for our kids, then I hope we can come together around that.
075So that's where I'll end my remarks and thank you for that. We're in a place where we can entertain a motion if anyone feels the move one way or the other for either site. We can also have further discussion after a motion. I'll pause there and say we're open to that. >> Are you saying that there's no more discussion at this time? >> We always have with a motion and a second then we open for discussion again. And we certainly certainly let's let's get a motion on the table. I think Robert's rules would say that's the appropriate thing to do. Get a motion on discuss it further. >> You looking at me? >> Anyone? >> All right. I wrote something out. Uh Mr. President, um as you know, over the past 20 months or so,
076the district has been gathering information and assessing that information, working with our master plan advisory committee and the professionals at RTA. listening at meetings, conversing with staff and administrators, and ultimately discussing important aspects related to the building of a new pre through prek through 8 school. Um, and I think just in that regard, today is a landmark day for our school district and hopefully more landmark digs will will come along in 2026 with hopefully a best grant award and and the bond election. Um, so with considering all of that knowledge in total, uh, it is my pleasure to propose that the Archeletta School District board of directors choose the Uptown site at our Vista property as the location for our new preK through 8 school. >> Okay, thank you. We have a motion on the
077table. We need a second. >> I have a motion and a second. So now open for further discussion. church. >> Um, again, I hope that people are leaving here with a true understanding of the time, the efforts, and the heart that has gone behind everybody's um, you know, vote tonight. I do want to just clarify a little bit of that. I I just cannot um kind of not touch on this, but I do think that the idea that it's a safety issue for a a prek to an eighth grade school to be located at the same site of high schoolers, the developmental gaps of of children learning from preK to 8th grade are widely larger than in a high school. So, I do not think that a gene next to a high school is a
078is a threat. That needs to be a consideration. It was a point that was brought up and I just wanted to say I do not think that that is a valid point to to to hold there. Um I definitely want to also just ensure that the these points that have been brought up for Vista have strength and merit and prosperity for our our kids. They do. And um I want to say that the voices that we have heard also reflect the the only polling that we did and um that the polling was again slightly favorable for a downtown site. And so the amount of work that is ahead to ensure that um the support and the collaboration from our community comes down to whatever is put on the ballot just needs to be really said
079out loud. I think um and that is what I wanted to to make sure is that the voices that showed up do matter, the emails do matter, the polling does matter and those were collectively leaning in and not the this sites in my opinion. So >> thank you. Other comments? Any other comments? Okay. So, we have a motion on the table for the uptown site. We have a second. No other comments and we'll go ahead and take the vote. >> Mr. Iverson, >> I >> Mr. Lynch. >> Hi. >> Mr. Mackey. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Shik. >> No on the site. >> Mr. Taylor, >> I So, the motion does carry for one. And so with that, we have made a decision at this point in time. We have a best grant associated with that
080site that needs to be on double time, right? Rick's looking at I know his his team that's due in March sometime, I think. >> Yeah, >> we'll probably take action at our March or February 4th meeting to solidify that. I think I think would be smart for us to do that. to get that on record. And um we'll just go ahead and close tonight's meeting with a a thank you to everyone who's been here, who's offered their thoughts. You know, it's one of those there are no wrong answers. They're just slight leanings one way or the other and we have to go forward with the best ideas we have now. And that's that's a decision we've made as of this moment in time. So with that, we'll say thanks again and close the meeting for
081tonight. I That's