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Board reviews add-on plans and cost comparison versus building a new elementary school
Summary
District planners showed detailed interior layouts for each elementary, estimated costs for additions and a new school, and estimated a roughly $25 million savings if the district adds classrooms to existing elementaries instead of building a new school.
District staff presented an analysis of whether to add classroom capacity at existing elementary schools or build a new ninth elementary, including cost estimates, internal reconfigurations and program-equity considerations.
Dr. Bedding (presentation lead) and architect Brian Bollinger walked the board through floor plans for Arcola, Aspen Meadow, Cedar Canyon, Eel River, Hickory Center, Huntertown, Oakview and Perry Hill and identified where grade-level classroom pods, STEM rooms and multipurpose spaces could be added. The exercise assumed 20-student sections for K–2, 25 for grades 3–5, and 15 for preschool or applied-skills rooms; those assumptions were used to calculate cohort capacities in each scenario.
Their analysis showed that by adding grade-level classrooms and reconfiguring underused spaces (for example, converting stages to flat multipurpose rooms), the district could raise total capacity across elementaries to approach the cohort capacity of an Aspen Meadow–style building. The staff-estimated construction cost to add rooms across the seven schools was presented at about $42 million for the “additions” column plus roughly $10 million of recommended ancillary work (playground surfacing, mechanical upgrades, boiler/chiller replacements at older buildings). By comparison, a new elementary was presented with an illustrative higher cost; staff said the net saving of doing additions instead of a new building was roughly $25 million in the draft models.
Dr. Bedding emphasized that the district was not making a recommendation at this time and that the board would revisit the matter in the fall if enrollment trends justify action. He thanked elementary principals and the design team and noted that some renovation work (boilers, chillers, electrical) at older elementaries would be needed regardless of the chosen path.
Board members asked whether the proposed scope could be done piecemeal and were told individual school additions could be pursued independently if needed. The board did not vote on a project at the meeting; staff said they would continue enrollment monitoring and return with options if fall enrollments make a new school necessary.
