Bettendorf Facility Advisory Committee minutes 1.4.05

The Facilities Advisory Council (FAC) met at the Ray Stensvad Administration Center on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 at 4:00 p.m.

Present: John Perdue, Scott Tinsman, Laura Dellos, Pat Eikenberry, Scott Tunnicliff, Tom Wirtz, Deb Roski, Tom Schuetz, Pat Mitchell, Jerry Sechser, Bonnie Fisher, Kevin Hatfield, John Campbell, Robin Olson, and Carrie Reed.

Absent: none

Also Present: Greg Gackle, a Jefferson parent, Maxine McEnany, Director of Business and Financial Services, Kathy Weigle, Board member, and Nancy Herrin, assistant to the superintendent.

Announcements

Dr. Perdue introduced Maxine McEnany, Director of Business and Financial Services. Three ring binders were distributed with minutes and materials to be discussed at todayís meeting.

An alternate tour has been planned for those who couldnít attend December 15. The tour will begin at Neil Armstrong at 4:00 p.m. on January 5. If the weather is bad, council members will be contacted with an alternate date.

At the December 20 Board of Education meeting, Directors heard reports from the architect on renovations planned for Thomas Jefferson for summer 2005. Scheduled renovations include restrooms, marker boards, and flooring, with alternates on door frames and casework to be decided later.

The District has engaged Russell Construction to do a site analysis for both Jefferson and Armstrong; their report should be ready in approximately one month.

Co-chairs Laura Dellos and Scott Tinsman then presided over the rest of the meeting.

Public Input

Greg Gackle asked if the Board had talked to the Area Education Agency (AEA) about selling district property to the AEA. Dr. Perdue stated that we had not, and asked Tom Wirtz, AEA representative, if there was any interest. Dr. Wirtz was unsure, but wouldnít rule out the possibility. (To clarify, the AEA owns the building they occupy. The District owns all the other land on the adjoining campus.)

Mr. Gackle also felt that there is concern in the community about Riverdale Heights Elementary School in Pleasant Valley taking Bettendorf Community School District students.

He asked if there was any talk about Pleasant Valley and Bettendorf combining into one district.

Dr. Perdue indicated that this subject had been broached some time ago, and Pleasant Valley was not interested.

Tour Observations

The council discussed what they had observed during the facilities tour of Armstrong, Jefferson and Mark Twain after the December 15 meeting.

Carrie Reed stated that classroom size is an issue. Armstrong and Jefferson have smaller classroom sizes.

Laura Dellos feels that Armstrong was never built to be a great school ñ classrooms and other spaces are cramped.

Pat Eikenberry believes that the operating costs for Jefferson are not economical.

Jerry Sechser was impressed with the renovations at Mark Twain. He feels Armstrong has a number of problems, and that Jefferson is a sound building, although small. He asked if making these buildings bigger was an alternative.

Dr. Perdue referred to the handout on average elementary classroom size, pointing out that most of our classrooms are smaller than the recommended size. Any future renovations should consider the data collected.

Scott Tinsman asked what size a new or renovated classroom would be. Dr. Perdue responded that it should be at least 1,050 square feet. Scott also asked for the square foot cost of classroom renovations; Maxine McEnany will provide this for the next meeting.

Pat Mitchell asked about the cost of renovating if we need to remove supporting structures, and move HVAC, etc.

Scott Tinsman then asked if anyone felt we should invest any money in renovating Armstrong.

Debbie Roski wants to consider what the alternatives would be.

Scott Tinsman stated he felt that everyone is saying that if any building needed a new building for its students, it would be Armstrong. Jerry Sechser indicated he felt that, yes, Armstrong is in the worst condition of all district buildings and needs major renovations or a new building.

John Campbell said Russellís feasibility study will give the committee the information it needs to make a decision.

Renovations at Other Buildings

Maxine McEnany reviewed information from a handout on sales tax projects to date. Some TIF (Tax Increment Financing) and PPEL (Physical Plant & Equipment Levy) money is also being used.

Laura Dellos asked if any renovations are being done to Project READY. Per Dr. Perdue, renovations were done at the time of purchase, but none since then.

John Campbell stated that needs were being met at this facility, and that the furnace has been replaced since the building was purchased. (As a note, part of this facility is rented out to other organizations and could be made available for district use.)

Maxine reviewed energy costs, and how cost increases are related to bidding on gas futures, and replacement of boilers.

She also reviewed custodial costs and estimated PPEL expenditures for the next 10 years. If any further information is needed, please let Maxine know.

Building Floor Plans

Dr. Perdue shared floor plans for Armstrong and Jefferson, and asked if there were any comment or concerns.

A comment was made that the floor plans are not totally up to date.

Dr. Perdue stated that the sizes of rooms are different from other buildings. He indicated that many new schools have room for family resource, school-based medical services, meeting rooms, storage, etc. Our district doesnít have that ability.

Per Kevin Hatfield, when all specials (art, music, physical education) are at Armstrong, band and orchestra has to hold practice in the stairwell. Heís very concerned about the safety and adequacy of space.

Bonnie Fisher addressed special education programs, which are placed throughout the district. The district does not have any more room for additional special education programs, although our special education population is increasing.

Early Childhood (EC) special education needed space, so Jefferson is now using a former computer lab for 1st grade, and houses the EC class in the former 1st grade room.

Art/music are in a shared space on alternate days, with small storage areas to hold equipment.

Laura Dellos asked for blueprints of the other elementary buildings ñ John Campbell will bring these to the next meeting.

Attendance Center Map Dr. Perdue referred to the district map, which comprises nine square miles. Home school boundaries have not been adjusted in some time. Some new developments north of I-80 may need to be placed at Hoover. Pleasant Valley has a site ready for a new school on Hopewell Avenue.

The district did talk to Pleasant Valley about sharing this facility, but it is not legal to commingle students unless these two districts are merged.

The council discussed choice enrollment, open enrollment, and administrative transfers of students. Dr. Perdue explained how this affects area enrollments. He referred to the semiannual enrollment reports for Jefferson and Armstrong as of October 1, 2004.

Laura Dellos asked if the district has looked at combining grades, perhaps on a north/south of Middle Road basis. Per Dr. Perdue, the district has not done any formal studies, but has discussed this issue at various times. Generally, parents want children to go to neighborhood schools.

Scott Tunnicliff stated it might be good idea to rethink the idea of the neighborhood school.

Greg Gackle asked to see enrollment data for the other four elementary buildings. Dr. Perdue will provide this information at the next meeting. any school in the district.

Scott Tinsman asked if there would be much change if this was done.

Kathy Weigle stated that choice enrollment has allowed free choice, but the majority stay in their home school attendance area. Dr. Perdue asked if Scott Tunnicliff had brought a map of the proposed new bridge. Scott indicated that he has one that is close to what is being proposed. Basically, the I-74 bridge will be 400 feet upriver from the existing bridge.

Changes to the downtown area will include:

? 3 lanes of traffic both ways across the bridge

? An interchange at Grant Street, but none at State Street. A major part of traffic will work back in an s-curve to State Street.

? The corridor that is Holmes/Mississippi Boulevard will go under bridge, and not be closed down as had been suggested.

How this effects the school district: Traffic patterns should be same for Armstrong, but some changes will occur with Grant and State Street. The new bridge will incrementally improve other developments. There is no housing planned at this time. Most of the development will be retail. Residential properties are important to this development, but the 100 acres along the riverfront is owned privately.

Creative reuse of land within the City is important to the district because of the limited availability of land.

Dr. Perdue requested a copy of the proposed map for the FAC council to use.

Scott Tinsman inquired as to how the area around Devilís Glen was in the Pleasant Valley School District. John Perdue explained that there were many small schools and when consolidation took place people could choose and border areas went either way.

The committee asked for open enrollment data for the Riverdale Heights area to see if it could be determined why people open enrolled in or out.

Debbie Roski inquired if we had thought of how we would deal with the differences in the Neil Armstrong and Thomas Jefferson calendars. Dr. Perdue said that we had not given it a great deal of attention at this point, however, the Board has done a first reading policy on allowing students to be administratively transferred to the Neil Armstrong Center to equalize class size.

Laura Dellos commented that she thought if we had a new building that we would see more movement of students within our own district to a new building.

Greg Gackle commented that he would still like us to explore the option of Pleasant Valley and Bettendorf School Districts merging. Scott Tunnicliff commented that he felt merging was an option that needed exploring since we were discussing all options. He noted that the schools were divided differently by grades and the Pleasant Valley High School did not have block scheduling but the option needed exploring.

Some of the committee felt the merge option had been explored and Pleasant Valley wasnít interested.

Debbie Roski asked to see the differences in the Thomas Jefferson and Neil Armstrong current budgets as separate schools and a combined budget with one attendance center for approximately 417 students in the building.

The next meeting is set for January 18, 2005 at the Administrative building at 4:00 p.m.

The agenda is:

? Discuss Options

? Review floor plans for all elementary buildings

? Attendance profiles for all elementaries

? Pros and cons of alternative options (by committee members)

? Shared positions in the NA and TJ buildings compared to how the same positions are staffed.