Board to Vote on Central Renovation Tonight

If you attend only one school board meeting a year, tonight may be the night to attend, especially if you are concerned about the future of Central High School and other building projects on the horizon. The Board’s Facilities Committee is recommending that the District move ahead with the construction of a Ninth Grade Pod with 19 classrooms, a new Science Wing with 8 classrooms and improvements to the PE and Athletic Areas that will give the school a total of 5 baskeball courts, new weight and wrestling rooms, and storage areas. The plan is based on the idea that the District will move more students into a phased third high school program at Dakota and seek to limit Central’s population to roughly 1800 students. If approved, construction could begin in 2010.

Tonight’s decision has been in the works for a number of years. Overcrowding issues and deficiencies in the original facilities at Central have prompted complaints from students, parents, teachers, athletic programs and advocates for the performing arts. In the spring of 2008, the consultants offered four options for alleviating the overcrowding at Central and meeting the long-term needs of high school students in Rapid City. They included:

1. Current enrollment boundaries model – add capacity to Central ($43.7m) so that it can handle 2400 students, address facilities issues at Stevens ($25.8m) but keep current attendance boundaries the same – total price: $69.5 million.
2. Balanced enrollment model – address facilities issues at Central ($28.8m) and Stevens ($37.0m) and redraw boundaries to alleviate overcrowding by sending more students to Stevens – total price: $65.8 million.
3. Third high school model – address facilities issues at Central ($27.0m) and Stevens ($25.8m) without increasing capacity at either school and begin the phased development of a third high school for 1,300 students ($35.3m) – total price: $88.1 million.
4. Tech High School Model – address facilities issues at Central ($27.0m) and Stevens ($25.8m) without increasing capacity at either school and build a new magnet technology high school with a capacity of 500 students ($15.0m) – total price: $67.7 million.

Over the last 15 months the Facilities Committee has focused primarily on Option 1 (2400 students at Central) and a hybrid of Option 4 (creating a phased third high school at Dakota). Preliminary concept drawings for Option 1 were presented to the public last spring. Bids for the work came in at nearly $42 milion. Some board members and their constituents expressed concerns regarding both the price tag and the plan to increase the student population at Central.  The $42 million price tag also became a concern when the Administration distributed its 10-year capital outlay projections showing that the District can only afford about $87 million for new construction over the next ten years given the current spending philosophy of the Board. Spending $42 million on Central would effectively delay all other new construction projects for five years.

The plan provided for the Board’s meeting tonight blends a number of aspects of the consultants’ recommendations. It would cap target enrollment at Central at 1,800 students. To meet this target student population, the District would redraw attendance boundaries to channel a limited number of students to Stevens (mostly Black Hawk students), move forward on planning for the construction of a new middle school in the Valley and transition Dakota from its current function as a middle school to become an alternative third high school for approximately 650 students.

Board to Consider Joining School Funding Lawsuit

Sioux Falls Attorney Scott Abdallah will provide the Board of Education with an update on the status of the school funding lawsuit at tonight’s meeting. Brought by students and parents from several districts, including Rapid City, the suit seeks a court ruling that the Legislature has failed its constitutional duty to provide sufficient for education in South Dakota. Following a trial last fall, Judge Lori Wilbur ruled against the plaintiffs, but the plaintiffs have appealed their case to the South Dakota Supreme Court.

The State sought to block school districts from providing financial support for the case. In July, however, the South Dakota Supreme Court overruled Judge Wilbur’s decision on this particular issue. Abdallah is expected to ask the Board of Education of the Rapid City Area Schools to join with the more than 90 other districts who are supporting the plaintiffs.

The Board meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. at the City/School Administration Center at 300 Sixth Street. A copy of the agenda is here: Board Agenda 9309. Read Kayla Gahagan’s preview of the meeting in today’s Rapid City Journal.