001Feel free to text me if when I forget. I can ask some questions, but I did want to >> Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. >> Yeah. How are you? I sit next to my buddy Spart. >> That's right. >> I wouldn't know how to start a meeting without >> Did you miss me last week? >> Oh, you >> or last month. >> You have no idea. >> Matt was out of town and I felt really bad leaving the dog. So, I I watched your video. >> Oh, okay. Good. >> Yeah. >> Luckily, I've been to enough of these I kind of know what they're saying even when I can't tell. >> Yeah. Right. Um, I mean they know how. >> Thanks, buddy. We're gonna start here. You guys have a seat. >> Yeah. Yeah,
002that's right. >> All right, let me um let let me call this meeting to order. Thank you. This uh you all know you're here for the right reasons. That's a listening session on this whole prospect of the possibility of new schools. It's pretty exciting topic, but there couple at least for now a couple sites are in the running and it felt really important to listen to people who work here and understand your perspective on that. It's a decision that hasn't been made. There's a lot of rumors flying around about where things might land, but I can tell you that these five people are are listening intently, have been to all the impact meetings, the master plan advisory committee that Lisa Scott's been leading for almost a year now. About 30 members of the public, right,
003Lisa? Is that correct? 30 35 members. Um, they've done a lot of analysis and and reporting and reviewing. They have not made a recommendation. they left it with here. Here here are a bunch facts you should consider about these places and that's the process we're in the middle of now. Um if you want to speak tonight it's it's nice if you sign up then we have some order there but if you haven't signed up we'll ask we give you time to comment or or let your feelings be known or thoughts you have that that might occur later in the evenings as we as we go along. Uh, we asked Rick to first. I think Rick's going to be visiting us from >> He's there >> somewhere near Hatcher Lake. >> Can we do roll call,
004please? >> And just and we'll do that in a second. He's going to highlight the the two choices that sit in front of us. You probably seen a lot of this, but just to make sure we're all on the same page on what what's sitting before us as possible choices for a for a school. We know the voters ultimately decide but we have to decide what goes before that uh hopefully next November. Um so with that at the start of this work session we always call roll. So we'll do that. >> Mr. Iverson >> here >> Mr. Lynch >> here. >> Mr. Mackey >> here. >> Mr. Sh and Mr. Taylor >> here. >> All right. um when you do speak, tell us what school you're or where you work in the system just so
005we can understand you where your perspectives coming from. Um and first we'll start with Rick doing this overview of two possible site options that have been put before us all to talk about and think about. >> Thanks Bob. Um and also just take a moment to do a little walk down memory lane to kind of catch everyone up where we've been so far. So, this has been going on for a little more than a year and we've been focused on this. Can >> you grab the remote for that speaker, please? Hang on just a second. >> Sure. >> Try now, Rick. >> How about that? >> I'll keep going. >> Keep talking. >> Yeah, >> you All right. Thanks. >> Are we good? >> Yeah, I think so. Let's let's give that a try. >>
006All right. Throughout that year, we've been focused on these same seven criteria by which the board has been basing their decisions. These these really haven't changed since we began. Um this is a timeline of what we've done starting really last uh year ago, October. Uh we went on a little road show. We did six community meetings in English and Spanish around different parts of the town. Basically just sharing the academic adequacy studies and looking at the facility studies. Um we did a little survey at that point just for attendees to say what do you think based on what you just saw. Do you think we should pursue um improving the quality of our facilities? And that was an overwhelming yes although not a professional survey and certainly a limited audience just those that had heard.
007Uh we started then in January with the master plan advisory committee. Um and that committee started with the same information looking at the facility and academic adequacy reviews. Um and at that time we also started to get some um professional advice from just people who are outside of our area of expertise. And so that particular one had a demographer there to come and talk to us about um population growth or lack thereof in our in our community especially students. In uh February of that same month, we started talking about how does school finance work. Specifically looking at the difference between operating budget and capital projects. Um building on the sense that that property taxes generate our operating operating budget, but if we want a capital project, a large one, we have to ask for additional
008money. And that typically comes in the form of a bond. And then we also began to talk about um are the buildings worth renovating or should we be building new? That inspired questions from the public and going into the March meeting, we looked at some facility lifespan data. How long should a building last? How long do buildings typically last? Um and then what's the impact of having high quality facilities? Um we looked at that and then we did a um an activity doing the pros and cons of building first renovating and ultimately landed um landed on building and then began uh I'm sorry in that March meeting doing a activity called uh schoolopy I think is what they were calling it but it's really the looking at different combinations of buildings that might meet the
009needs uh in April, we reviewed that data and that's where we first started hearing that a K8 system or a preK8 might work best. Um, and that predominantly came from the idea that building two separate buildings might be 20 to $25 million more plus the interest on that money. So, in the spirit of being fiscally responsible, we could uh build enough school for all of those students uh at about 20 to $25 million less with a K8 building. We started looking at some initial site data like what places do we have available and we did a little bit more work at that meeting on uh bonds and best grants and I think you're probably all familiar if you're not a best grant is one of the primary ways to offset capital expenses in the state
010of Colorado. Colorado doesn't fund capital projects, but they do have a granting arm. And so we would be applying and we will be applying for a best grant uh starting in January. Uh and that can offset u maybe as much as 45% of the total cost. So that's that's a real big win if you can get the best grant. Following all of that work and some communication through the newspaper and through some newsletters, we hired a a pollster, a polling uh company uh called Newbridge Strategy to do an official poll across our community and said ask kind of like, hey, how are people feeling? Um during that poll, we pitched uh two ideas in addition to collecting a lot of demographic information. One was uh would you vote for this uh if we were asking
011for the total cost of the school which at that time was estimated to be around $123 million. Um and then we also asked well would that change your mind if we had had a best grant. Uh the initial numbers for just the would you go for the whole amount was about 54%. Um and it was considerably higher. I want to say it was 66% when people were pitched the idea of like if we actually had a best grant for that. Don't quote me on that. I'd have to go back and look at the look at the data. Um but one interesting thing that came out of that survey was that people had strong opinions about the location. Um and we had kind of sense that that might be the case. And so we built into
012the survey a question that basically said, if it was built in, if we built the school in this place, um, how would you feel about that? Would you still vote for it? If you built it in this other place, how would you feel that? Would you still vote for it? And there was a marked uh difference in responses for the two two sites. Nothing clear like one site was much better than the other one when it came to opinion, but enough that we knew uh we're going to have to do some more work uh following that. And uh we met with EMPAC again in August, reviewed the polling data, um had a site safety and security presentation from RTA and uh right following that meeting, the board wisely said uh we should get some engineers
013to go and look at both those spots so we get some good data on them so we know what we're getting into. And it's actually a really good plan because it's also very effective for winning a best grant to have good data behind how much due diligence did you do around around the site. And so uh SGM did just an initial review in several categories. I'll show you those in a moment. And then in November of this year, um, SGM kind of reviewed that material with folks and, um, that's when it became really evident evident that, uh, people had strong opinions uh, about the site. And for me, it was a big eye opener how much this decision was going to be based on uh, opinion and fact. And that was a that was a
014new one for me at being a a science teacher. I was really thinking, well, we'll just pull all the facts together and it'll be easy peasy. We'll move forward. And uh that's not the case. There's people have a lot of heart in in their decision and um they feel strongly about that. So the board again very wisely said we we should listen to people and so we appreciate you all being here tonight so they can hear hear from folks. there the board has a very difficult decision ahead of it. Um that site due diligence that I spoke about um had some civil site analysis um with just things like drainage and uh just the topography of the land because that does matter for building. We did a initial traffic evaluation and then we just looked
015at natural resources, wetlands, uh any hazardous waste concerns really wasn't much uh if any uh just so we'd have some some basis for for decision making. The two sites were very specific when we went to uh SGM. We asked them to look at the Vista site. This is a a rendition of that site that is up across from the uh Veterans Memorial Park. Um if you're familiar with that area, kind of near where the PLOA headquarters is as well. Um we own a goodsized piece of land there. Uh 30 something acres, about 17 of them are buildable. Uh so that was one of the sites that we looked at. Um, the other site that we looked at was uh on the high school property. That little white box in the bottom there, bottom center is
016a transportation building, the mat. And so at that point, the discussion was around putting the school into the hillside more or less um and taking over at least one of the softball fields for for parking. Um, and so those are the two sites that were were initially analyzed. Um, we had a a matrix again, numbers, science, I liked it. Uh, that would kind of allow us to compare the two sites. Um and when we looked at those two sites based on all those considerations on the lefth hand size, lot size, property slope, you can read the list, I hope, um really was looking like the Vista site was weighted as being a more viable site uh than the high school site. And the high school site primarily having two big struggles. Uh there's a wetland
017that runs at the bottom of that hill. Uh and that comes also with a drainage problem. And then that hill is pretty steep and so there was some foundation costs and some excavation uh that was going into that. Um that led to uh the board saying is that really the best spot on the high school property for uh that building? And that led to this proposal um which is placing the K prek8 building essentially on top of the baseball d the existing baseball diamond and three softball fields. Um so it's moving it inside the bus loop. Um and you can see this rendition uh is suggesting we move the baseball field up near the track. And then you can see the practice fields indicated there. We ran this site also through that matrix uh and
018looking at the original site um versus the versus the new the newer site. And actually the new site started to look a lot like Vista when it came to the numbers, the actual numbers because the new site took it away from the wetlands and the drainage problem and out of the terrace hillside which was getting to be expensive. >> Um and then in the end the the cost for building on those sites uh are compared here in this table. um they're kind of obscured in in my particular view on my screen right now, but essentially that the Vista site and the new SC high school site have very comparable ranges and that original high school site is is considerably more expensive. Um that's that's it. That is the the bulk of the work that has
019been done up to up to this point. Um Bob, I'll I'll turn it back to you. >> Yeah, thank thank you very hopefully that brings everybody up to date. You probably may already have been up to date, but you see what we're looking at a Vista site and really a high school A and B options there that have different costs associated with them. Um, so with with that, we'll open it to public comment. Um, usually we have fairly strict rules at board meetings. It's a three minute limit and we don't go back and forth and discuss. So we kind of loosen those rules up and if you need to talk a little longer, please go ahead and a board member might have a question for you and we follow up. But we'll just listen intently
020and if we need to exchange uh information, we will. We we know we're all going to be cordial and respectful. So, we'll just say that going in and look forward to learning all we can from you and help help make this decision. So, we'll start with Heather will read off the names as as you signed up. And remember, if you decide to say something, you don't put your name down. Please raise your hand at the end. We'll get you in there. >> Mr. Lister, >> I thought it was a sign up sheet. >> Tell us what school you work at. >> I will, but I thought it was a signup sheet for attendance. So, anyway, I'm with Springs Middle School and uh here we go. I don't know what to say because I did take
021some notes, but I don't know if that's for this agenda. So, what my I was involved in the opening of the Ignashio uh K6 and the Ignashio the first year and and got to feel some of those growing pains and then I I worked in Santa Fe in special needs and saw some of those things that going through. So some things that from my experience uh would be flow patterns, traffic, what you guys are already probably studying, but throw in maybe some angles that people that haven't actually uh been involved with uh ADA and uh other things because I came in this morning uh and Bob uh was meeting with the I think the student council and I listened but it seemed like a lot of things were geared towards athletic fields, playgrounds, this and
022that. But I I probably wrote some asterisk uh some notes here. The ADA uh bus bus emergency for medically fragile because in my experience, we've had uh seizures and access to places and and uh wheelchair uh uh loading and unloading on docks and at the level and just things that they always try to cut spaces out. So, we could save a foot here or a foot there, but but if we just take care of our handicap, then we're taking care of everybody else in between. Uh uh and then uh then on the the service side of it is here, we didn't have a washer and a dryer. Uh we used the the cafeterias and they were using the mops and we were doing medically fragile kids with with uh with things that were coming off
023the floor and stuff like that. So, we now have a a washer and dryer in our room, but if you put a K8, uh my suggestion would be have two sites and and and if they if they were incorporated with the bathrooms, uh in in our case, we have kids that need changed or something or just plan for for the most severe things. And then uh uh in Santa Fe I really liked and I I can't remember in Ignashio but uh uh a handheld shower because because when we're dealing with medically fragile kids that were changing or uh gets sick or whatever that a shower that an adult could assist them uh with that and I is am I on the right track there with some ideas? >> Everything you want to say? Yeah. >>
024Okay. Uh because again I thought I signed up for attendance. >> You're you're here. >> Uh and and then then on the on the I was here when uh they put in the track and they cut down on expense because we already had our our uh our bleachers there. So they made a six track a six lane track and really I think to meet state standards it's eight lane and we could never host certain events. So, if we could double up on, let's say, uh get a a more uh Colorado state friendly track facility or whatever. Uh and incorporate that in the PE classes or whatever and and just uh I just some of that stuff. And then and when we I was on the I was a park director when we built Yamaguchi Park
025and we had a consultant that did things that was nice and pretty and this fit here and that fit there. But they didn't realize that that home plate and uh goalpost soccer goals all face north and south because of the sun and and you know different aspects. So if you're looking at a set of plans and say, "Oh, this is pretty. This is pretty." Well, then take into consideration some of the things that on the long term you you didn't say we never thought of that. So, so if if there's some things like that, uh, and I wrote some things down and I I skip around a lot, but did I miss anything, Jen? But it really is nice. It's really is nice in our medically fragile. And then planning for the future. Uh in
026Santa Fe, we had a a a kitchen where where we we we made they did like a something for after school. Uh I mean after they turn 21, some sort of growth that way. But uh it just adds to the whole picture. And I'm glad you guys are doing what you're doing. And and uh I won't sign up ever again. Thanks for coming. Thanks. Thank you. Olly Blackman. I teach at the high school and I've been here for 11 years at the high school here and I typed mine so I'm going to read it fast. Um I understand that tonight is a facilities plan that has brought everyone here together. Um, and the cost of such a plan, no matter which site is chosen, is going to be chosen by voters and it's going to
027be a large expense. Um, but to canvas for a K8 school, I also want to know if there's going to be monies for other facilities upgrades as mentioned by Mr. Holt this evening. Correct. uh current facilities upgrades costs may also be part of the total bond amount canvasing for and as the previous man um spoke um cutting corners were done perhaps years ago when some of these current facilities were were built. One example that I'd like to talk about right now is ventilation and consistent temperature controls in the classrooms at the high school. Some classrooms have this such as computer labs but not all of them. Um, I don't believe that the community knows about the ventilation issue that I'm going to bring forth tonight. And so, this is why I'm here tonight. Um, OSHA
028has a law about temperature has no law, excuse me, about temperatures in um, public buildings. However, there is a recommended optimal work and learning environment, which is uh, 68 to 78 degrees. Some of us have been collecting data three times a day this fall. August, September, and October. At 7:45 when we come in, it is often 69, 70, 71 degrees. Closer to 10:00, 11:00, it is already 80. And after lunch, it is often between 88 and 92 degrees. Growing up in Virginia, if a school without proper temperature controls near those kinds of tents, the county released early I went to school in a county of 12 schools, high schools um with about 2500 students each. So, this was a massive impact um there. We open our windows when we leave um school during these months
029to bring in that cool Colorado air. I have a portable AC unit. I have two large fans. there is no immediate help or unless you're sitting right there. Let alone students cannot hear the instruction that's going on when I have that kind of fans and noise going on in my classroom. Additionally, my classroom alone will have between three to eight wasps flying around. This is an everyday occurrence. Um, and it's not just coming from an open window, uh, because we don't want those wasps and we shut our windows for that. But, um, they're also coming out of the vents in our ceilings. I don't know where they're coming from. I've had um I've had maintenance come in and pull two um ladders into my room, push up on the ceiling, look, you know, they say
030there's no there's no wasp nests, whatnot in our library. They are tons of them um up in the windows and oftent times sometimes they'll fly through um close to us that are sitting there. Um, I don't have an answer to that, but this is something that I again do not think that the community is aware of. In conclusion, I truly believe that our small community can plan for growth with new K8 to 12 or K8 facility, but I'd also like to think that we can improve a beautifully built high school that is only 30 years old as well. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, very good. Thanks, S. And just just know that those other items there's an other list being built >> and so things like that will be on it. >> Scott White >>
031uh Scott White Mountain School but also I coach here at the middle school two different sports. I I'm kind of more approach a couple things. Number one, it's kind of honored to be part of this process. My dad was part of the a huge part of the process in getting high school built. I remember when this was the playground right here. Am I right? Yeah. >> Yeah. I don't know how many people know that, but this was outside. Um I remember them putting in the the beams as I sat in that classroom and wasn't focused on what the teacher was saying because we were watching them weld. Um so I've been around a little while. I I'm going to kind of hit it more on a on a perspective of that third option they're looking
032at making sure there's enough valable space for kids. Um I understand the Vista has a lot of open space for kids. I know the the school and the hillside keeps the existing builds I believe, but if we go to that third option, will we have enough space for all the kids? And I I don't think it's a great thing to be transporting kids to fields all over the place. you want to be able to walk out of school and get onto a field or a facility or a track or something like that. So, I I've coached um at least two sports all my career every year. Um I I see a lot of value, a huge amount of value in keeping our kids active. And so I just want to make sure that that space
033is available for them and making sure that when we hear about possible um designing something that the last one going, "Oh, we thought that was going to fit there and it didn't quite fit." You know, we don't want the kids to be to be shorted in that respect. So that's mainly just keeping the playable spaces because I in the um I guess I'll say one more thing and this is one of my favorite things ever. There's always a time of the year in the spring where I look or I have a moment. I'm coaching track and I have a moment and I look around and I see kids at Yamaguchi playing soccer and kids over here playing soccer and kids on the track, kids playing baseball. And I always kind of stop and think, look
034how many kids are out here. How many kids are active? How many kids are doing something healthy? So, we want to make sure that space stays um available to them. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Nice Josh. Same chip. Evening everyone. You know, I'm the principal, current principal here now at the middle school. Excited to be here. It's been great. Um, and I want to share just strictly my perspective. I've had an opportunity to be in the district in multiple different places. So, just going to share really three points I wanted to make. Uh, safety must remain the top priority for ASD. While I recognize that there are potential benefits to having all 1500 students on one cap campus, I also have significant safety concerns about concentrating our entire student population in a single location in
035the event that a reunification were necessary. I do not believe our community have the capacity to manage a situation of that scale. It would place immense strain on our transportation department and partnering agencies. Historically, our safety plans have relied on the availability of our other school sites or other smaller venues such as churches or the community center. And that flexibility would be greatly reduced with a single mega campus. So that is something I was thinking about. For decades, our middle school has operated without the space and genu and genuinely without the space it genuinely needs. Instead, we have depended on the generosity and availab availability of other agencies simply to host physical education classes, athletics, and whole school events. And while those partnerships have allowed us to get by, they've also forced our staff and
036students into constant compromise. Whenever another entity needs the space, our plans change. Our teachers adjust, our students adapt, and each time that happens, the quality of the experience is diminished. The Vista site is a chance to build a learning environment that honors our students needs first. Adoptes the opportunity to provide reliable dedicated space so teachers can teach without lastminute disruptions and students can participate fully without being displaced. This is the kind of a long-term investment that transforms a school experience for generations. Choosing the current high school campus means choosing ongoing scarcity. It means asking multiple schools and programs to compete for too little space during the busiest times of year. Yes, the town of Pagosa Springs has been a wonderful partner, but relying on them means our students access will always be determined by someone
037else's priorities. The Vista site gives ASD something we have never truly had. Autonomy, consistency, and the space to deliver the high quality experience our students deserve. This is the opportunity to correct decades of limitations and finally provide our middle schoolers with the facilities they should have had all along. And because this decision carries great weight, I encourage the board to look ahead to imagine what the district should be 30 years from now. The legacy you create, excuse me, create now will guide the boards that follow. Just as past decisions have shaped your work today, you have a uni unique opportunity to set a vision that fosters lasting growth and truly serve students for generations. Josh >> Sean O'Donnell. >> I'm Sean. I work at the high school. >> I've been in here before a few
038times. Um, I I'm going to piggyback a little bit on on what Scott said in and the field space. Um, I've got I got a few concerns just as leader of a high school and um programming and things like that, but I do think um you know the option B with the the schools being built on the baseball field and the softball fields. Um, I I worry about, you know, and first looking at that and trying to think forward, you know, trying to put a high school football team out there practicing and a middle school team practicing and the high school soccer team all trying to fight for that limited amount of space for practice. I did see that possibly putting turf on the football field would would create a little more space for that.
039Um, but I do think that, you know, after school programming, especially in the fall could be tricky. Um, if we're thinking about spring sports, um, I didn't see any place on there for, um, you know, a place for shot putus. You know, currently where that baseball field is proposed. That's kind of where we do the shot put and discus. And if we locate that someplace else, it won't be near the track. um not ideal for track practice or track meets, things like that. I'm not sure where that fits in the scheme. The other thought I had um if that is the proposed site, I wonder is the baseball field the first thing that gets built or is that an afterthought? Because if the baseball field's not built first, then there's no baseball program during that
040time of building. So, those are just some athletic things I thought about um when I see that space. Um, as far as, you know, school day programming, you know, the it's not, you know, we don't use the fields, you know, every day for PE classes, but if you have middle school, high school, and elementary school all trying to do outdoor PE in that in those spaces, um, is there enough is there enough room to do that? You know, be on top of each other a little bit. You know, like Josh spoke to, the scarcity mindset. Um there are there are times, you know, that we do a few things high school-wise where our entire student body does go outside and use the fields. Um we probably have to adapt that because we do take up
041a lot of space when we do some of those activities. We could obviously adjust that. It's not something that we have to do. It's nice to have that space to be able to do those activities, but it's not an end all beall um thing for us. Um, the other thing that I just wanted to speak to and and I'm not a traffic engineer. I don't know how to do studies on whether traffic's appropriate or not. Um, but I just have I have a really hard time wrapping my head around the the volume of folks driving down 8th Street in Hot Springs Boulevard. I know that um I saw the loop of maybe some high school through Sixth Street. And if you've ever been on the Sixth Street, you know, road um where Sixth Street meets
042Apache, that's a really sketchy stop sign. Um you know, that that hill coming down Apache is um it's steep and you know, there's some blind spots there and then I feel like sometimes you take some risks on should I go or not go? I'm really not sure. And if you're trying to send a volume of folks down Sixth Street to hit Apache, um that just really concerns me. And then besides that, are you taking a left up Apache to take a street to the stoplight? You taking a right to go to Hot Springs? Again, I'm not a traffic engineer and I trust that they know what they're talking about, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around what that volume of people in traffic is going to look like um at the end
043of the school day and then the beginning of the school day folks folks get to school. So, um I think that's what I had. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. >> Sean, can I ask you a question while you're here? >> Yes, absolutely. is that so part of that scenario with the the campus down on the high school site, then there's the baseball field which of course we'd have an improved baseball field. From my understanding, it's never been really great. >> Right. It's satisfactory but not great. But in your experience or do you know anybody who uses the baseball field let's say for fall sports for practice fields? We know we used it this year for practice >> the actual baseball field. >> So that is done routinely. >> Yes. I mean we um the football
044field the football team practiced on the what is the current practice field. Um the soccer team then shared I mean they used the outfield of the baseball field some and then also the outfield of the softball fields. I mean we're dying for grass. I mean where everyone's fighting for a piece of grass for practice. Um and we rotated you know the baseball and softball fields just so that we didn't tear that grass to nothing. So soccer team started on the baseball field, rotate it to the one of the softball fields, but we use I mean currently just with the high school football team and the high school soccer team, we use every bit of grass minus the stadium. So turn on the stadium would help. So you could have some of that practice space, but
045it's not it's still still I don't feel like it's enough. So does that answer the question? >> Yeah. Yeah. It's just I I didn't know I hadn't noticed in ball sports if the baseball field was used by a baseball field regulation does take up a lot of real estate and I was uh discussing with somebody else but I said I didn't really actually know the name of it. Yeah. I mean the answer although I didn't think it would tear the baseball field up too much if it was just useful practice and one other thing. So the you get on the bus loop beyond what used to be pack and to the ring. So where the water comes all through in your opinion, you been there a long time. Is there is would it be reasonable
046to try to build a ball field up a little bit? It's not too slloy there. Um I haven't taken any photographs and remember exactly myself, but you've been there a lot. Is that something that think >> a practice? I think you're asking like put put fields there >> as you're going down south the vocational building >> where the where the original high school or the original K12 or >> K. Yeah. Well, not on the hillside but just past grow domes just on the right get across where the drainage is and up a little bit. Would it be reasonable to put a practice field unless that competition field there? I I would think yes that it would be reasonable to put some field space there. Yeah. I don't know how much field space you could actually
047put there without having to move some of the hillside, but um I think it probably reasonable to put some fields there. >> So, something to consider. >> Sure. Anything else? Answer instruction. Okay. Thanks. Carrie Steedman. Um, hi, my name is Carrie Steedman. This is my 12th year in the district and my role is the gifted coordinator and I service the elementary school, the middle school, the high school, and occasionally on a case- by case basis the San Juan Mountain School. And I just wanted to share that my observations over the years has been being able to see the middle school students really thrive by utilizing placebased learning, um, fly fishing on the river, um, different river studies over the years, being able to access things like Res Hill and the Grodomes and other community partners.
048Um, I also wanted to speak to just being able to see over the years kids being able to utilize the library for safe spaces after school. So, I've definitely have a lot of kids that depend on the library and after school going to the library for social outlet or clubs or special programs that the library utilizes. But I've also definitely seen kids um utilize the library after school as just a safe place to be after school. And so I'm just curious about, you know, if kids are not on campus, what safe spaces are going to be available to them after school? Because downtown we have lots of safe spaces for kids to go after school that I definitely um have seen a lot of kids utilize over the years. um are my general comments. And
049then as the gifted coordinator, I definitely see a lot of advantage to keeping the campuses close together when we have our students that are um subject based accelerated and they are eighth graders going to the high school. I just wonder what that will look like when the high school and the middle school are super far apart and how that will affect the logistics. Well, I see if we were able to keep the campuses closer together, a lot of opportunity to either um increase different learning opportunities and collaboration for students. >> That's all. >> Lewis Hi guys, I'm Kelly Lewis and I work at the high school. Um, I would love to see our K8 school stay downtown. Um, apart from being a teacher, I have a son at the elementary and it makes my life
050infinitely easier to have my son, I can drop him off and he gets fussed over to me. Um, and part of that too is, uh, busing has been an issue for my kid too. And I know a lot of other parents feel this way. I feel this. I hear about things with my students and from my kid. I prefer for him to be on the bus as little as possible because he gets made fun of and has had some physical instances on the bus as well. And I just don't think they're monitored as well as they could be. Um, aside from that, um, my class really loves to collaborate with the elementary school, my advanced art classes, long as they're 14 and under, so I can take the mini books over. Um, we love to
051go visit the elementary art school um, art classes. And that's one of my students favorite things that they do all year is going and getting to hang with the little kids. Having a school super close would allow for more collaboration and would make that easier. I can see a lot of really neat opportunities happening that can provide citizenship and empathy growth for our high school students and some really cool things for our elementary school student school students to experience as well. Um, aside from that, um, I'm going to reflect what Holly said. Um, while my classroom doesn't get up to the 90s, it is very uncomfortable in the warm months and very cold in the cold months. and having a way to regulate temperature in my classroom would be awesome. Um, and I think that's
052it. Thank you guys so much. >> Thank you, Kevin. >> It's me, >> Darcy. Darcy the guys high school. Also, professional meeting attender. I have been to all of the EMPAC meetings. Um, I am a teacher of seven 16 years in this school district, 23 years total. Um, I'm the union rep and I care a lot about what happens in this school district and you guys know that. Um, I'm also a towny and I really like living downtown. And when I started going to these EMPAC meetings, I was like, "Yeah, let's put this campus all in one space. It's going to be awesome. And then I started attending these meetings and I found out that the majority of our students live uptown or in Aston Springs or out in Hatcher. Um I found out that
053we're going to be building a sewage treatment facility right below the Matt building uh below the high school campus. I sat in these meetings and learned that in order to even start building a bu a new building on the high school choice A um up to $18 million to put in huge beams for foundation. Correct. Yeah. Um this option B is a little bit of a surprise to me that we now have a map with a location. I'm curious if um we I saw the matrix as well. So, we had RTA do another site evaluation. Is that correct? We paid we paid them money again for that. >> Didn't pay for a new site evaluation. We paid them to move a building to there was enough. >> Are they going to do a site evaluation
054like they did a site evaluation for the other two sites like all of that rigomearroll to discuss >> you know traffic and all those things that are the same plus a soil sample study I think is the same. So we would still have to put in really really big beams for foundations. So it would still be $18 million. >> Well, but you don't have problem. >> You don't have the drainage problem. >> Saving is the excavation into hillside in the wetland. >> Okay. >> That that's really good. Otherwise 18 to 11. >> Okay. 18 to 11. So currently there is less than $9 million in our reserves, which is about 60% of our operating budget. Yes. Close. Just spitballing here. So there's nine, let's call it 9 million. Well, there's less $420,000 because we spent
055that um on theou for the um building trades building. >> So, we have a little less than $9 million. That's about 60 65% of an operating budget. Taber requires us to keep 3% of an operating budget and we spent $120,000 having RTA do the site visits or the site analysis for the two sites. Correct. Correct. And then they just kind of did a freebie for us because everything's generally the same. Dave is sorry, director Iverson is saying that it's about 7 million less than what was initially told to us. >> Okay, so >> you're you're fairly close. >> I know. And I'm not even a math teacher, Mr. Lynch. >> I guess where I'm heading is um we're going to need to spend down that money, right? We don't want our community to see $9
056million in reserves when we go and ask them for $123 million. And um but that's not enough to even do the $11 million downtown in the in the high school site, right? >> We wouldn't but we wouldn't >> I guess my question is where is the extra money coming from? Is that coming from voters as well? Is that coming out of a budget? Is that are we going to ask the state? Are we gonna how are we going to find $11 million to put in foundational beams before we even start building? So, I guess I want us to be really thinking about where is extra money coming from that is not coming from our community that is already a poor community that we're going to ask a lot of, right? Um, and I also recognize
057that this meeting is all about figuring out which way the community and we're part of the community, but we're the educator community, but which way we lean because that's going to give us a better chance of passing a bond. >> And do you do you have a leaning? >> I am leaning. Yeah, I am leaning. I wanted us, but I did want to point out being fiscally responsible and figuring out where that money is coming from and also being transparent with the educators in this room, the educators in the school district, and the community of how we're going to acquire $11 million to build foundations because we could do $6 million uptown. We've got $6 million, I think Eric can tell you. But what I really am struggling with is one of the one of
058our uh high quality learning environment is one of our uh goals as a committee and you as a board that's one of your charges. And I think the more I think about building down at the high school and then the new proposed K through 12 that would take up the build the spaces that Scott and Sean and other people have touched on. Um I think that that's going to disrupt the high quality learning environment of our high school students. And you know, high school teachers have stood up here and said, "Hey, don't forget about the high school. We're sweating our butts off and we're freezing our butts off." Um, you know, but also our kids, like how disruptive will three years of construction be, let alone three years without a baseball team or three years
059without a soccer field. Like, how disruptive is that to our learning environment? you know, um I think I sat at a table with you at an impact meeting and said that that's my number one goal is that whatever we decide to do, I do not want it to disrupt any students learning. I don't want us to be moving kids out of schools into modulars. I don't want to do any of that. So, I think that we really have to consider as much as people love downtown and the access that kids have, like Carrie has pointed out, other community members have pointed out, so many of our activities are downtown, we also have to think about how disruptive is this going to be to the learning environment. And if we're, you know, if we're just going
060to site analysis all over town, um, would we consider looking at the elementary school field that's empty, flat, and possibly not full of shale? Just a thought. I mean, if we're still going to just keep looking at sites and maybe that'll make everyone happy, maybe a little less disruptive to the elementary school kids, but you know, I'm a high school teacher, so I don't see any elementary school teachers here. >> With all that, can I ask you kind of sorry tomorrow? Where where does this go? I mean, that's kind of the point. I mean, lots of different factors and I appreciate you brought up a lot of good factors to consider. We're weighing all those heavily. Where would you go? I would go up town. Okay. >> I would be at the Vista site. I
061think it's I think it's more fiscally responsible. I think it's got tons. It's got 31 acres to our 17 acres. It's more expandable. Uh there's more more space up there. I mean, my dream is that the swimmers get a swim pool someday. You know, that's definitely not happening on the high school campus unless we're swimming in sewage. >> So, just something to to consider as well. >> Also, please get me an air conditioner and a heater thing. >> Yes. So, thank you. And to your point about where does all this extra money come from, there is another list as has been pointed out HVAC and other things that we're compiling and then we have to reconcile that against the bonding capacity of the school and the likelihood of getting a best grant. They have to
062reconcile that into a package and decide to go forward. So we're taking all that input in order to do that. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you, >> Mr. President. Can I make a comment to it please? I think that, you know, given the the leadership we have and the viewpoints of this this board that uh we would take every pain that we need to to ensure that like high school baseball does not get disrupted, whatever. Now, we're talking about doing one thing before another. You know, building a baseball site before you would, you know, tear down the old baseball. So just make sure that you understand that this board is thinking about those things the entire time. We haven't thought of every detail of course and Mr. Listister I think pointed out very carefully
063that the devils of the details in the end and that's why we depend on architects and and engineers to help us along with that but the big picture things like making sure the sports work is is going to be you know front in our mind. >> We appreciate all your comments. I would like to make one comment I'll call you in a sec. Um as Mr. lister pointed out first we do end up talking a lot about outdoor spaces fields and things initially and and a lot of that is because those drawings of the buildings are identical so it's not so it isn't a the square footage required to do K8 at least according to experts we've covered that square footage but if you talk about how's that square footage configured what do those rooms
064look like those halls look like what do that learning space look like that's back to you that that comes back to when finally decide a space and you're talking about now okay we have this many thousand square feet how how are labs set up and how are set up so forth then that's back to you educators and experts on what what you need so our job is you know where's the money come from where's the best place to put that and your job will be to help us figure out how the inside of that's configured anything else anyone thought of that you want to bring up please yeah sorry yeah said I Hi, I'm Amy Owen and I'm a grade five social studies at the middle school. I'm also one of the three track coaches,
065middle school track coaches here and my concern is that we already share the high school track and it gets quite crowded and I also know that the middle school soccer team also shares with the high school soccer team and I know that scheduling becomes an issue and so I would just like to point out that if we do get a new K through8 having an additional track available would be um would be nice and not having our middle school students crossing traffic and trying to get over to the high school field. Um so whatever that looks like. >> Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Tim and I had the chance this morning to talk with middle school and junior high fifth fifth, six, seven, eight kids and uh most of them hadn't heard a whole lot about
066this, but I can tell you in about 15 minutes they zeroed in on the key issues, the pros and cons of either site and had really good perspective on that. So, we got a hours worth of student perspective that was enlightening as well. So just know that that's that's we're doing everything to reach out and listen and then incorporate that into our own deliberation and hopefully a decision that in the end and I think we all know in the end what we want is school right got to find the best place there's tradeoffs at each of those and but we definitely need school that's yeah go ahead >> hello I'm Diane Rice and I am a math teacher at the high school. I was also the assistant soccer coach this year. Just want to reiterate
067some of those space issues. Um that our boys soccer team was like we were huge this year. So we were on the outfield of the baseball field and then we're moved to the softball field and they were split up between varsity and JV on different softball fields and then pee-wee football came in. And so I mean there's so many people who want to share that space. I know it's been said. I'm just saying it again. Put some more weight on it because I think it's really important. And um the field got beat up. So it's not only about time and you know it's about usage. And then um I guess follow-up question is if um that high school space um was chosen u was there any deliberation on if you can use the turf main
068field for practice, we would be able to. There hasn't been deliberation to that detail, but but when they plucked in the idea of a turf deal, it's it's the notion that it >> could handle a lot of practice. >> Okay. So, it would also be like used as a practice field. >> That's the only kind of relief that's offered. >> Okay. And then um someone once told me I didn't do any research to back this up there. Uh that turf can often increase injury rates. I don't know. Have you looked into that? Okay. That could be something important. um size of the that partial field. Do y'all know is that part of the dimensions? Do is that part of the how big is that >> that partial field? So there's like turf full practice field
069and then there's a partial field. >> Those those fields were I think we had them drawn out to essentially the size of a soccer field. You know, 50 by 100 yards more or less. the partial field. >> No, the partial field is whatever twothirds of that or a little more than half of that. But that's the they're to scale. I guess that's what I was saying. That full practice field is 50 by 100. >> And with that new kind of baseball field, does it still have like a fieldhouse and some facilities to it? >> I don't question. >> That's yet to be determined. >> Okay. What What would happen to that? Is that just going to Would that be destroyed? What's already there? >> The weird place. That's where all the wasps are coming from.
070And what else? >> Oh, okay. So, that's my the sports issues, I guess. But that's there's a lot of human beings who like to use that space. Um, and then as a high school teacher, I agree with the, you know, the heat and the the ACs and the wasps. Those are issues and spurs. But one other thing is, um, I know there was just the fire the agriculture teacher and we also have homec um be really cool to do like a teaching kitchen or like a teaching facility um that focuses on the a world like part of the CT stuff. I don't know if that's part of a maybe a request from that world. Um, anything else? Yeah. What else can I ask for? Um, that's Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank
071you. Appreciate it. Diane, can I ask you that last to reiterate that last because we do have a list. Are you saying that it would be nice to have a teaching facility for sort of CTE a dedicated cooking space for the cooking classes? Is that what you say? >> Yeah. So, I teach homeck and it's more of a we use the main kitchen when we can when the schedule allows for it. So, basically not first period because breakfast is in the way, not second or third period because lunch is in the way. So, basically four. Um, and then the a teacher uses that kitchen >> in the votech building. the one that was just >> on fire and um you have to turn on and off the propane and relight. I mean, I've been in
072there. It's really dangerous. And like I mean, you have to light the pilots every time you use it and turn off the propane. It's kind of ridiculous. So, a I think it's a dangerous space and it is not very healthy either. Like the washing facility isn't great and there's no dishwasher and stuff. Um, so I would propose, yes, some kind of cooking facility that maybe could be shared with whatever home, CTE. I mean, personally, I would love to grow the home to a CTE pathway. I don't know if this is the conversation, but um, but something like that where the I mean, the kids are really interested in that world. So, and it would be great to get out of the main kitchen probably. >> Okay. >> So, did that is it too much? >>
073No, no, it wasn't too much. just wanted to make a note of it because it's something I personally haven't thought of yet and maybe others have but a dedicated space and this would be >> uh as part of a not a coralary but in concert with building a K through8 school. So that's we want I want to hear things like that >> the other list as what uh you know what can we afford where can we put it etc. But if you don't think about it then of course we can't consider it. So I appreciate it. Yeah. And there was even another idea of making kind of a full culinary class where they offer even like a restaurant kind of situation, maybe even open to public to um recoup money, you know, actually sell like
074lunches or whatever. But that's I guess add it to the list. >> It's in it's in the heading of CTD is going to grow. So there'll be lots of discussions about that. So, a couple hands. So, come on up and we'll just go down the down the row there. >> Hey, uh Amber Kirka, I teach fifth grade elementary school, but I have spent many years at the elementary, so I feel like I can speak to that a little bit as well. Um I was in the classroom when the sweet little fifth graders came back after talking to you. They were so excited. Most of the things that I heard were if it's by ace, we can ride our bikes. we can walk to school. Like they were so excited about that. And there is something
075really cool about a school in a community like that where you do see kids walking and riding their bikes. Um that could be kind of a cool thing. I will also say having picked up high schoolers and then have driven from the high school to the stoplight at 8 Street, it will take you 30 minutes. I cannot even imagine adding a thousand more people down there. I just don't know what that would really look like and if that is the best spot. Um I will say having talked with other teachers and co-workers, we're just really excited for the possibility of a new building. Like having an adult bathroom upstairs in the 56 building for adults to use would be really cool. Um not asking for much like I mean also AC would be awesome but
076fabric. Um really we just want a beautiful new school, well-designed learning spaces, um for our students. Um and I think I am partial towards the Vista location, but also I've heard a lot of community chatter that they really want it downtown. So I would really know if that's what's going to get the votes, then maybe that is the route to go. I would hate for them to not vote for a school just because it's uptown. That would be a really big bummer after all the work that has been put into this. So, >> yeah, we appreciate it. >> Yeah. Yep. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Should I go up there? >> Yeah. Come on up. And then Kelly, you're >> second here. >> Should I sign in twice? So, so a lot
077of the stuff that I've done uh within the town in the last uh 40 years is is when we built Yamaguchi, uh we kind of did an IGA or intergovernment agreement with the schools, the county, and the town. and didn't put everything on the town or everything on the district or whatever, but a lot of the stuff that we did on the softball fields, baseball fields, we kind of tried to share that money, but that was an idea. Have we gone to the town and the county? That was one idea to throw out there. And then uh the other part is is uh is neighbor property where you have a wetlands, but you could if you mitigate you could replace it with a town park that they're building. Some other way of replacing that that
078uh that uh what is it called? Water what? Help me. >> Wetlands. Water wetlands. But it doesn't have to stay there. if you if you do something it you could say, well, we're replacing it over here or over there. That was another idea. And then the third idea was uh let's say on the high school on the on the high school site, some of the usable land, trade it with the neighbor for the stuff up there where they're going to maybe want their their trophy homes or whatever or teacher housing or something like that. or in in the Vista site just some land trades or purchases or whatever to to get away from some of these uh what what I saw in the drawings doesn't give uh I mean we're parking at at Goodmans and
079Lewis Street and all over here it doesn't always it shows bus routes and stuff like that but parking for picking up or parking for teachers uh if you have K through eight what do you have 40 teachers I don't even know but so so all Those things are nice, but take into consideration the flow patterns and and stuff and think outside the box on the IGAs and on the on the on the uh trading land for mitigation or trading land for uh more square footage for fields or for parking or whatever, but uh just uh fin uh creative building, I guess. Thank you. Very good. Thank you, Kelly. and then and then back. >> All right. I don't have much. Um, one of the biggest concerns that I have in general with the elementary currently
080is parking. I mean, not parking, the traffic loop. It is always problematic. It always will be until we're not in that spot. Um, last week when we had the really snowy day, I think it was Thursday, uh, I saw on Facebook it was like the elementary's backing up the highway. I'm like, I there's literally zero people in our parking lot. We didn't back up anything, but because notoriously it has. That's the go-to. And I think I worry a lot about shoving us all in one location because I don't see the I don't like I who said Amber shoving a thousand more people down there. I don't see how that is going to not become problematic. And because it's already such a point of contention with families, I I worry that that like maybe I'll still
081have to deal with that in at the the other site. And um I don't know. I hear over this whole thing, I went to most of the impact meetings, people are concerned about us being uptown and it feels like we're isolating students away from the resources downtown. But I also we have so many kids who live up there who like a lot of them are elementary kids like Amber. It would be wonderful if our students could walk or ride their bikes to school and feel like oh my goodness I live right there and this is my school and this is my small community. I think there's power in that. And I also do believe that if we build it, they will come like field of dreams. Like we what resources could be moved uptown for
082kids designed for that location and we're not like retrofitting something. So I mean I I am just happy and thankful either way for us to have a new building. I think that that will just be a sigh of relief. But I don't want to say oh all the resources are here so we won't even consider up there. And I really think I wish we could go back 30 years and be like if we wanted a mega campus maybe we should have thought of it then and I get the push for it but I really do feel like we might just be trying to shove something in there because that's what we want. But is it what's best for kids? My personal vote as a mom is no. I don't think that's what's best for kids.
083I didn't mean to have such a strong opinion. Sorry. >> I'm so proud of you, Kelly. Hey, come on up. >> Hi, I'm Leslie Peek. I'm fifth grade language arts. Um, so I agree with what people have been saying. I definitely know as a mom that trying to shle kids all over the land can be difficult and imagining dropping off my high schooler and trying to make it back to school on time as a teacher sounds like a nightmare. But I will say one thing that I don't think people have maybe didn't discuss. I was a little bit late because I was coaching um dance. But have we considered the impact that this might have on downtown businesses if we move our facilities here or uptown? Um because I do know that our middle schoolers
084frequent our businesses down here. They um you know they go to Subway, they go to Scoops, they go to Fro Yo. they are constantly spending money which is um our downtown businesses desperately need. So maybe and I'm just throwing this out here and I haven't thought about logistics but maybe we need to offer a downtown bus situation if we if we do build uptown you know because then we could have access to the library as a safe space. We could um I know like dancers obviously that's like um something that I'm very invested in um to be able to get downtown to go to their classes and so maybe that is something we we could consider. Um, I do know that busing situations are difficult already in this town and getting enough bus drivers, but
085um, I I don't know if that, you know, pay them more, we recruit. I'm not sure what that looks like, but um, I do think that, you know, it might be worthwhile, at least considering how can we how can we support our downtown community if we don't end up building our facility downtown. >> Thank you, Melissa. Yeah. Yeah. want Stuart. >> Hi, I'm Stuart with San Mountain School and I could not be the only principal that didn't speak, so here I am. Um, so I wanted to thank Yeah, that's it. So, I wanted to thank you. It's obviously a really hard decision you have in front of you and for taking the time and being so transparent, I think, is a great first step. Um, so thank you. I I did want to start with
086that. I know you're hearing a lot of opinions and I definitely want to acknowledge the fear that comes with change and moving uptown would create amazing amounts of change for a lot of our community. And I've heard comments and also been to all of the almost all of the impact meetings I think and heard comments there about the loss of outdoor classroom opportunities and access to afterchool activities. and we had approached the idea of a bus that is free like Lesie just mentioned that would bring kids downtown. I think that would be an important factor to get out there and have some talking points around if we do go with the uptown campus. I also want to acknowledge that with all of the hard work you've done with option C, there is a loss of
087all adult softball in town. Um, and I'm sure you I don't know if you've heard from them, they can be a feisty bunch. So, the adult softball would be gone um May through June. Josh and I have worked together on this a lot. Every every softball field is taken, correct? May through June with youth, T-ball, softball, 8 to 12, uh little league, what's that? Through August. Yeah. So, that's just I mean it is it is fighting. It is uh we call it field jingga. There's a it's like Game of Thrones. Baseball is a whole new world. Um, you really I warn you against crossing that. Um, so it's there there are going to be some impacted groups of people that it's just gone. There's a new softball club at the high school level. Female softball
088just got started and they're really excited too even though it's just their second season. Um, I also want to move on real quickly and just say that in the other category, I definitely want to lobby for a chunk of that for San Juan Mountain School. I definitely need to get on the radar. I know I am. I've talked with all of you individually and appreciate your concern for my school. Um, we'll we'll take anything. We'll take a remodel of something that's left over. We'll take another modular out back. we can buy the one that's obviously not going to sell next door and take that like we'll we'll take whatever comes. Um just cover our patio and that that could help a lot. Currently our students go for a lot of walks. They get overwhelmed. um
089it's a tiny space and they're just the type of population who gets overwhelmed and sometimes they get emotional and they are out walking on campus and that that could look weird to a kindergartener sometimes emotional high school students walking it off. Um and it's not just my classroom that allows that. There there are or there are others. So just those kind of concerns about high school, some of the high school students needing some space and kindergarteners being packed onto a field that is right there in the middle of them. It does create a where do they go situation like Torstown and LPA or where does where can they go and stay on campus and have a moment of I just need to get away from other students. There are a lot of there's a lot
090of social anxiety now that comes with that. In the end, I think all of the leaders will support any decision. We're 100% behind the board. So, thank you again for your transparency and all you're doing to make this a a really wellthoughtout process. We appreciate you. >> Thank you, Stuart. >> Anything else? Anyone? We really appreciate you taking your time and coming out tonight. Know that we all take real notes and listen and, you know, put this all together. There's there's nothing on either scale that's been tipped one way or the other. We really haven't talked about it at all in detail among ourselves. Just listen and take it in and begin that deliberation process really somewhat starting tomorrow night. We have regular board meeting. That'll be on our agenda to start to talk about
091that. U public comment's always available. anyone thinks of something in the meantime or someone you think should come talk to us, please come at public comment tomorrow night around 6 and then we plan to make this decision in January at the regular unless we need more time. We can't go too far because there's this thing called a best grant deadline that gets out there. So that that drives you toward a decision on a a location, not all the details of the building, but a location in order to be able to apply for a best grant, which is one of the places you get this extra money for that other list is is within that that kind of notion. So anyway, with that, anything from the board that you want to add as we close tonight?
092We'll be back at it tomorrow night. Enjoy the rest of your evening. Thanks again honestly for you coming out and sharing with us. We are ajourned.