Photo: Pagosa Springs Middle School 5-6 Grade building, built in 1924, was inspected by the Colorado Department of Education a decade ago and was found to be in the best condition of all the school buildings in the Archuleta School District — in better condition than the High School, built in 1998.
On January 7, the Archuleta School District (ASD) Board of Education met in the Middle School library to hear from the public and to discuss two possible locations for a new PreK-8 facility. The members of the public who spoke, were almost unanimously in favor of locating this proposed new facility adjacent to the Pagosa Springs High School, even though this location would result in the loss of athletic fields.
The arguments in favor focused mainly on the historic importance of downtown neighborhoods and parks and library and businesses, which are accessible to students attending the existing Elementary and Middle schools.
The existing school buildings would be abandoned, or sold, or donated to worthy causes.
Disclosure: I currently serve as a volunteer on the the Pagosa Peak Open School board of directors. PPOS is an authorized district school, and if ASD is able to get the voters to approve a tax-funded bond for capital improvements, PPOS would likely benefit from such a bond issue.
When I attended the January 7 meeting, I believed that the School Board would make a definite decision and pick one of the two locations, so their staff and consultants could begin writing a BEST grant application. But that didn’t happen.
New information shared with the Board and audience concerned cost estimates for the two locations.
Superintendent Rick Holt summarized the estimated costs.
Although this general idea — new ASD facilities — has been discussed in public meetings for well over a year, last week’s meeting was the first time the School Board and the public heard projected costs for the two different locations, as estimated by actual construction companies.
Four reputable construction companies had submitted estimates, and those estimates were averaged to produce the following cost predictions:
A PreK-8 facility on the High School Campus: $130.2 million
A PreK-8 facility at the Vista site: $122.8 million
You can download the cost estimates here.
Mr. Holt stated that this was an “apples-to-apples” comparison, with the same features at either site. But my understanding (from participating in the a half dozen Master Plan Advisory Committee meetings and several School Board meetings) is that the Vista location would provide much more space for athletic fields, and would also make future expansion (if needed) more feasible.
A facility at the High School location would likely result in the elimination of three Town Recreation Department softball diamonds.
Both locations would present traffic challenges, though the challenges would be different.
After hearing from the public and from Superintendent Holt, the School Board engaged in a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of each location.
The Vista Site Advantages:
- Lower Cost — fiscally responsible
- Scalability and flexibility, allows for future expansion
- Additional field space, dedicated fields and track for MS
- Eliminating potential conflicts between MS/HS students
- Frees up options at the HS campus for future expansion (if needed)
- Cleaner construction; more predicable time line
- Potential to use cost saving to address other ASD capital needs
- Overwhelming preference for Vista site from staff and building administrators
- Less disruption to the HS during construction
- Boon to MS athletics
- Having athletic fields uptown would be a community benefit
The High School Site Advantages:
- Community interconnections
- Afterschool participation in surrounding events; walkability access to downtown
- Desires of the community to have a downtown location
- Supports a broad range of activities and needs; available resources in the downtown area (parks, river)
- Inter-age interactions among students
- Facilitates coordinated schedules for families
- Consolidation in one area
- MS students can participate in academic activities at HS
- Continues to strengthen the downtown; school would act as a civic anchor
Looking over these ‘pros’ and ‘cons’, we can perceive a general pattern. Basically, a downtown location would tend to reinforce the historical importance of downtown as the “heart” of Pagosa Springs.
Basically, a Vista location would bring the benefits of a large facility — including gymnasiums and athletic fields — to the Pagosa Lakes area, and would better serve a more populated area of the community.
Only about 13% of the community lives within the town limits, and considerably fewer live within walking distance of the High School.
About 76% of Archuleta County households live within the Pagosa Lakes subdivisions. Another 7% live in the Aspen Springs area.
The School Board also made a list of the disadvantages of each location. We will discuss those tomorrow.
It seemed to be a well accepted assumption at the January 7 meeting, that the Archuleta County voters would be unlikely to put themselves $130 million in debt for a new school facility when the existing Elementary and Middle schools have been functioning adequately since the 1960s, and continue to be ‘adequate’. Both facilities had new roofs installed within the past 10 years or so. The foundations seem to be sound. Both have new playground equipment. They are both within walking distance of downtown parks, events and activities.
The District has been experiencing declining or flat enrollment the past few years, and projections are for the decline to continue.
It’s not clear exactly what would prompt the voters to support the abandonment of the existing facilities.
Well, what if the state were willing to cover 45% of the cost by awarding the District with a BEST grant?