The Cheney School Board received the results of a facilities study and survey report at its April 27 meeting.
Ned Warnick, of Design West, explained he had reviewed the district’s current facilities, educational program needs, enrollment growth and projections and options to accommodate the growth. He said all of Cheney’s buildings are maintained at “a high quality level” with all of them receiving a rating of “good” or “excellent.”
“Of all of the districts I’ve been involved with, Cheney really takes care of their assets provided by their patrons,” Warnick said.
As for growth, the report includes demographic data from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s cohort projections that suggests the district’s enrollment will increase by 793 students district-wide from 2015 to 2021.
Warnick said the high school’s current facility is inadequate to accommodate the growth and that the district’s 2015 $44.8 million bond proposal that would expand the high school was “really the right idea.”
“Whether the bond was the right design solution or not (I don’t know), but as a planner I would say that was the right planning solution,” Warnick said.
He suggested the district could rerun the same bond proposal in 2017.
Another option is for the district to run a smaller bond to pay for building additional classroom space and a commons/auditorium area.
Warnick said the district would become eligible for state-matching funds for modernization grants in the mid-2020s that would go toward paying for rennovating the high school.
“It would open up more ability to build more facilities for less local dollars,” Warnick said.
One need Warnick highlighted was Sunset Elementary School’s lack of a permanent gym space,
“It (Sunset) really needs a gym for it to fulfill its educational mission,” Warnick said. “It’s the only school that doesn’t have a separate multi-purpose, cafeteria or kitchen area.”
Warnick also suggested the district look into adding permanent classroom space at Betz, Sunset and Windsor elementary schools to address growing elementary school enrollments and eliminate the portable classrooms.
Warnick said the district may want to consider building a new elementary school and a new high school in the north West Plains-Airway Heights area of the district to accommodate future growth in those areas.
“We don’t have the core projections to be able to say this, but you may very well have a high school population at or around 2,000 students,” Warnick said. “With 2,000 students that becomes a question for parents to ask ‘do I want to send my kid there?’ We think Cheney High School is comfortable at around the 1,500 student range.”
In action items, the board approved a 5 cent raise to breakfast prices for the 2016-17 school year. Breakfast will increase from $1.60 to $1.65 at the elementary schools and from $1.70 to $1.75 at the middle schools and high school.
The board also authorized the district to renew its contract with Myers-Stevens for providing its student accident insurance.
In other business:
• The board approved the second readings on policies regarding “School Improvement Plans,” “Course Design, Selection and Adoption of Materials,” “Copyright Compliance,” and “District Ownership of Staff-Created Work.”
• Kassidy Probert, executive director of finance announced that enrollment for April was at 4,299 full-time equivalent students, 21 less than March’s count.
Cheney School District will be hosting community conversations at Sunset Elementary School (May 17), Cheney High School (May 18) and Westwood Middle School (May 19) at 5:30 p.m.
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
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