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Community member outlines multi-step plan for new high school, proposes short-term bond and county collaboration
Summary
A community member proposed a staged plan to build a new high school: first pursue a short five-year bond to demolish two buildings and build a K–8 on county land (Hodges property), then prepare the Watanca site for a later high-school bond, and coordinate with city and county and scenic commission.
Ernie Bratz, a community member who identified himself as not a board member, presented a long-range proposal for siting and funding a new high school in the district.
Bratz urged a phased approach: first seek a short-term five-year bond to demolish two buildings on the Watanca site and to build a K–8 on a 22-acre parcel he identified as county-owned (the Hodges property) west of town. He said removing the two existing buildings on the high-school site would make a contiguous campus possible later and argued that selling a staged plan to voters would be easier than asking for a partial high-school build on an occupied site.
Bratz said the plan would require cooperation among the school district, the county and the city and noted the site’s scenic-area designation would require discussion with the scenic-commission. He described the approach as a near-term, smaller bond to remove buildings and construct a K–8 and a later, larger high-school bond once the site is cleared and prepared.
Board members did not take formal action on the proposal during the meeting. Bratz’s presentation was entered as public comment and district staff and board members said they would continue to accept public input on the topic when the bond timeline item returns to the agenda on March 13.
