The Greene County Intermediate School in Grand Junction, built in 1915, will end its life as a school building at the end of the current school year.
The Greene County Schools board of education at a special meeting Nov. 9 voted 6-1 to close the building. Ashley Johnston, a former East Greene board member, cast the dissenting vote. Two other options were on the table for discussion before the vote was taken.
The meeting was attended by about 50 persons.
The board held a special meeting a week ago in Grand Junction and heard comments from more than 20 school district patrons about the proposed closure. The board tabled a decision at that meeting, knowing that a decision was needed this week to meet a deadline set by the Iowa Department of Education’s School Budget Review Committee (SBRC)for a budget proposal that would bring the district’s spending into check.
The school board learned three weeks ago that enrollment for the 2016-17 school year is down 50 students, creating a need to cut $330,000 for the 2017-18 school year before presenting the budget to the SBRC.
Superintendent Tim Christensen opened the meeting with a brief recap of his “Plan A,” closing the intermediate school. That plan would save the district an estimated $224,000 in staff costs, $75,703 in utilities, and $33,480 in transportation. He said more discussion about the use of portable classrooms and repurposing the intermediate school would be needed.
At the request of several persons who attended the Nov. 2 meeting, Christensen also presented a “Plan B” for cost savings without closing the Grand Junction school. That plan called for reducing the equivalent of 2-1/2 fulltime elementary teachers, one fulltime music teacher, and the equivalent of two to three career and technical education teachers for a savings of $275,000 to $331,000; and limiting the number of college classes students could take at school expense to save another $10,000.
Christensen answered critics at last week’s meeting who said the district should have planned ahead for declining enrollment. He said a facilities planning committee was assembled in May 2013 to recommend how the district could increase efficiency so programs or teachers wouldn’t need to be cut. The two-building district in the bond proposal was the committee’s recommendation. “A plan has been in place. I want everybody to know that this isn’t a willy-nilly thing that was just thrown out there,” Christensen said.
Johnston presented her own “Plan C.” She suggested that the intermediate school would be a better fit for grades 5-8 than the middle school and that the district would still see the savings in staff and utilities if the middle school was closed rather than the intermediate school. She suggested the plan presented to the SBRC call for closing a building but that more time is needed to determine which school it would be. “This decision is a big one. We need more than a week,” Johnston said.
She also said she had learned from Jefferson zoning administrator Nick Sorensen that putting portable classrooms at the middle school would require a variance from the zoning board, but that the portables would likely not be needed at the intermediate school.
Board member Sam Harding noted that a challenge in closing the middle school is that the gym would still be needed for competitions and that the heating system is shared between the gym and the three-story classroom building. There is no way to heat only the gym. He said there is no space at the intermediate school for the synergistics lab and that handicap accessibility would be a problem.
The board members agreed that Plan B, cutting staff, was not an option. “The focus is on the education of kids, however that shapes up,” Ohrt said. “I know there’s a lot of claim to a building. There are a lot of memories in a building. That doesn’t educate our kids. It’s the staff, the people who work here and educate our kids.”
Board member John McConnell said he is frustrated that the Greene County board is “getting blamed” and made to look like “the bad guys” because maintenance is needed on the Grand Junction building. He said he recently talked to someone who graduated from the building in 1949 and said it needed work then. “Neglect there makes us look like the bad guys.”
Board members Teresa Hagen and Mike Dennhardt did not join the discussion.
Three Grand Junction residents made comments, but Ohrt limited comments to assure a decision would be made.
After about 30 minutes, Johnston made a motion that the district close a school building for the 2017-18 school year, and that the plan presented to the SBRC should state that intention and the desire to have more time to decide which building should be closed.
Her motion died for lack of a second.
Then a motion was made by Mark Peters and seconded by Harding to approve Plan A. All board members voted in favor except Johnson and the motion passed.
Approving the district’s request for supplemental allowable growth – the budget proposal for the SBRC – was next on the agenda. Christensen had hard copies prepared in advance of a proposal. Board members looked at it quickly and then approved it by unanimous motion.
