From the superintendent’s desk

One of the more frequent questions I have received over the past seven months is why the elementary school location at Caddie Woodlawn. As a district we have been going through this process for over 14 months going back to originally contracting with a Construction Manager and Architect to do the facilities study to provide us information regarding the conditions of all of our buildings. Prior to the process my personal thoughts were that the Caddie Woodlawn would be the building in the worse condition and as a result the most obvious choice of the buildings to close. As we moved through the process and hearing the results of the facilities study from SDS Architects, Auth Consulting, and Market & Johnson, my own eyes were opened to realize the opposite to be true.
As a district we realize the emotional attachment that everyone has to the various buildings they attended school at. If budgets were not an issue it would be great for the district to maintain all three buildings, but the unfortunate reality is that the district can no longer maintain three buildings.
With that situation becoming a reality the district then needed to make a decision about which building to house our elementary school students. The decision to move the elementary school to Caddie Woodlawn was made based on the financial savings and efficiencies of operating Caddie Woodlawn vs. operating Arkansaw Elementary School.
Regardless of which elementary school was closed, the district would experience savings due to a reduction in staffing, traveling teacher mileage, and utilities/maintenance of the extra building. With the closing of a building the district is anticipating a savings of $60,000 in staffing due to duplication of services between the two elementary school buildings. Going to one building the district could reduce the staff, therefore, eliminating the duplication that is needed due to operating two buildings.
A second savings regardless of building location is the elimination of traveling teachers. Currently with two elementary schools we have multiple teachers (i.e Art, Music, Physical Education, Special Education, Reading Specialists, etc.) traveling between the buildings. Moving to one building allows us to eliminate the travel of these teachers saving the district an estimated $1250 per year.
A third financial savings deals with cost of shuttling students between the buildings. We currently have six shuttle busses that travel to and from Durand High School to Arkansaw Elementary School in the morning and afternoon. The cost of the shuttle is based on a per mile cost. We currently spend about $52,000 per year on shuttling our students from Durand to Arkansaw and back with that cost increasing on a yearly basis.
A fourth area of savings is based on anticipated utility and maintenance savings as defined by the Mechanical Engineer during the facilities study. The savings we would experience from having the one elementary school located in Durand is $70,591. When looking at our heating costs during the 2013-2014 heating season and dividing those costs by the square footage of the buildings, we spent $0.22 per square foot for heating at Caddie Woodlawn, $0.44 per square foot at Durand Middle/Senior High School, and $0.52 per square foot at Arkansaw Elementary School.
This brings the total savings for moving to one elementary school at Caddie Woodlawn to an estimated $180,000. When exploring the closing of Caddie to move all of the students to Arkansaw the estimated savings were $90,000. The breakdown of those savings were staffing reduction ($60,000), traveling teacher mileage ($1250), anticipated utility and maintenance savings for not having to operate at Caddie Woodlawn ($56,303), and an increase in shuttling costs due to adding three additional shuttle busses to transport the current students at Caddie Woodlawn to Arkansaw (-$26,145).
Another factor considered when looking at the location of the elementary school was the 1-10 year maintenance costs as identified in the facilities study. The anticipated maintenance needs of Caddie Woodlawn over the next ten years total $2,195,400. The anticipated maintenance needs of Arkansaw Elementary School over the next ten years total $3,661,056.
During the Ad-Hoc Committee process over the summer there was discussion related to renovations and additions to Caddie Woodlawn and Arkansaw Elementary School. At that time an addition and renovation to Caddie Woodlawn to meet the needs of 430 students and address our one to three year maintenance needs would have cost the district an estimated $8-$9 million. An addition and renovation to Arkansaw Elementary School to meet those same needs would have cost the district an estimated $10-$11 million.
The district also looked at various non-financial factors when making the decision as to the location of the elementary school. The first of which was the amount of instructional time that would be gained by not having to shuttle the students to Arkansaw. Due to the reduced shuttle time our students will gain back valuable instructional time that can be used in the classrooms.
Another non-financial issue is the ability to more efficiently create a K-12 atmosphere. With the close proximity of the elementary and middle/senior high school it will allow our older students the opportunity to mentor and tutor our younger students. This will only improve our total school atmosphere.
A final aspect when looking at the location of the buildings is the proximity to emergency services. With the location in Durand the response time for police, fire, and ambulance is less than the response time for a building in Arkansaw. In an emergency, response time is an important component.
The decision about building location was a difficult decision for both the district and the ad-hoc committee. When looking at the data provided from the study, data provided by the district, and data requested by the ad-hoc committee the decision of both groups was to have the elementary school at Caddie Woodlawn for the reasons listed above. As stated earlier, the district understands the emotional attachment that people have to a building, but the district can no longer maintain three buildings.