Board and council begin planning for long‑range school infrastructure, including potential new high school

School board and city council members used the joint meeting’s facilities agenda to begin a long‑range conversation about school infrastructure needs, highlighting the age and condition of several buildings and discussing options for a new high school.

Officials noted the middle school is about 70 years old and the high school dates to 1964; the tech center was built in 1981. A rough order‑of‑magnitude estimate presented during the discussion placed a potential new high school in the range of $110 million. Participants explored siting alternatives — building on the middle‑school site, behind the tech center, or using existing properties — and discussed phasing options such as building a new facility, moving the middle school into the existing high school and repurposing the old middle‑school site.

Members emphasized the need to study enrollment trends, site constraints, traffic impacts, community concerns and financing choices before committing to any plan. Financing ideas raised included grants, state support, savings, debt issuance and a possible referendum to add a local sales‑tax increment for school construction.

"If we don't start the conversation somewhere, then we end up being nowhere when it really comes time to do something," one member said, framing the discussion as early planning rather than a commitment to immediate construction. The group agreed to pursue a scoped feasibility study and to consider forming a joint committee of council and school board members to develop site, finance and public‑engagement recommendations.

Next steps: staff will draft a scope for a feasibility/study phase, evaluate potential funding paths, and return with options for a joint committee and public engagement plan.