School board reviews priorities for facilities

The USD 333 Concordia Board of Education gathered for a special study session Wednesday, December 19th to review their immediate considerations for facility improvements for a prospective bond election next year.
The board originally intended to meet this week with Mike Mayo, Principal Architect with Ebert Mayo Design Group Architects & Planning Consultants of Manhattan, who the district contracted with in 2017 to provide consulting services for facilities planning. At the request of the district, Mayo did not attend this week's meeting.
Instead, the board used the meeting as an opportunity to reexamine what they want from the district's facilities for their education system.
USD 333 Concordia Superintendent Quentin Breese restated at this week's meeting that their immediate needs at the Concordia Junior/Senior High School facility include a junior varsity gymnasium floor that is at the end of its life and is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a very large footprint that is difficult to travel through due to flow and ADA compliance needs, and outdated science labs,
"I never like to feel like I'm unprepared. Since I've been here, I've been unprepared," Breese said. "Whether it be trying to find an adequate tornado shelter, whether it be finding an adequate fire escape route, whether it be secure entrances... It doesn't matter until it matters. It doesn't matter for my family until it's my child in a wheelchair. That's when it hits home for me. And so I have a hard time looking at those families that have those issues."
"It's something that I think we need to address, and it's not going away," Breese added.
Other immediate needs noted include a call for additional space at Concordia Elementary School.
"We've got to have some space somewhere. Whether that's talking about adding on (to the building), whether that's talking about moving a grade level out, whatever that is, that's a crucial need," Breese said.
He also said the Concordia Middle School is out of space to receive larger class sizes, and they see the trend continuing.
According to the September 20th student enrollment counts collected, USD 333 Concordia has 557 students enrolled in preschool through 4th grade at the Concordia Elementary School building for the 2018-2019 school year. A total of 150 students are enrolled this academic year at Concordia Middle School, while another 467 students are enrolled at Concordia Junior/Senior High School.
In total, the district has 59 more students enrolled this year than the 2017-2018 academic year.
Breese has asked the board to spend the next six months working on determining a scope of renovations and improvements to facilities throughout the district, before finalizing a bond amount and approving a plan of financing.
Two weeks ago, Mayo presented the board with updated construction cost estimates for Concordia Junior/Senior High School, Concordia Elementary School, and the former Concordia Middle School, now the USD 333 Service Center at 1001 E. 7th Street in Concordia. The projected total improvement costs presented amounted to $34.4 million, revised down from $41.9 million as originally presented last month.
"We're facility planning and we're doing it transparently," Breese told the board Wednesday. "This community is having a hard time with transparency because things in the past haven't been transparent. Numbers and ideas are being thrown out transparently. We can't sit and wait any longer."
"I think we need to reevaluate what our values are sometimes. And, you know, the value of our kiddos and what we want from them, I think it needs to stand out," Breese added.
In September, at the directive of her 25-member Board of Directors, CloudCorp Executive Director Ashley Hutchinson sent an email asking local entities to come together to support projects prioritized by the community. A new, modern medical facility was identified as the top overall priority project for the community.
"For me, I don't have any desire to race against the hospital. We're not racing," Breese shared. "We want to make a good decision for the students of Concordia. If the hospital comes in tomorrow and passes a bond issue, I don't care. Our focus is not on the hospital. This seven member board and this administrative team and our school community of 300 employees and pumping $1.2 million in payroll into the economy every single month, that's what we worry about. So I think it's really, really important... we're not in a race against the hospital."
The Cloud County Health Center in Concordia, in conjunction with Salina Regional Health Center, announced this month they've embarked on a four-month Master Facility Planning process to address their facility needs. Money for the Master Facility Plan was approved by the Cloud County Health Center Board of Trustees during their August meeting, and the Master Facility Plan kicked-off with their first set of meetings this week.
"We're not competing against the hospital. The hospital needs to happen, too. We need health care in this community. But we can't apologize for the needs of the high school. The high school, 1929, is 90-years old," Breese continued. "My job as superintendent of schools is to advocate for the kids. Our administrators are advocating for the kids. Because if we don't, who else will?"
"I don't want to get into a political battle. I feel like we're putting our students in the crosshairs of politics and money. Our kids didn't ask for that. So this isn't political. This is a school district doing business for the best interest of the student," Breese stated.
He thanked the board for having the courage to hold these discussions, recognizing that facility improvements require big conversations and big decisions.
"The tough thing is our kids experience it it now. They're going to Abilene, they're going to Wamego, they're going to Marysville and seeing these facilities. And the people we're going to try to attract as staff members and coaches, encourage to come here and raise a family and contribute to our society here, see that. And they value that. I think that's what we're in danger of facing in the very near future."
A probable timeline presented would call for a bond election in November 2019. There is the potential for the district to do a mail ballot special election in September 2019.
The board also held a 30-minute Executive Session Wednesday for Confidential Business Data with Superintendent Breese, as well as two Executive Sessions totaling 60-minutes in length for Preliminary Discussions of Acquisition of Real Estate with Breese. No action was taken.