By Abigail Roberts
Highland Elementary will close at the end of this school year after Lincoln County Board of Education members voted 4-to-1 Thursday night to consolidate students with other schools.
After about an hour of discussion and public comment, a motion was made by Board Member Gloria Sneed to close Highland and consolidate students with Waynesburg, Crab Orchard and Stanford Elementary Schools. The motion was seconded by Board Member Jennifer Broadbent.
Board Member Tyler McGuffey voted against the motion.
Board Member Phillip Coots said the school board looked at every possible avenue to keep the school open and could not find a feasible way to do it. Coots cited repairs needed at the school related to waste and water services that could cost up to half-a-million to $1 million to fix. Coots said the repairs would possibly take over a year to complete.
“There is absolutely no way there would be school in Highland next year regardless,” Coots said. “…the legal liability that we’re talking about right now is a huge risk.”
Members of the public asked if the waste water system at Highland isn’t a new issue, why is it suddenly an immediate concern.
Board member Tyler McGuffey said the district’s bonding capacity was not strong enough to cover the cost to repair until now.
Board member Jennifer Broadbent said there is a lot of cost that can’t be calculated yet, as well as regulations that may not allow certain repairs to be made.
“Isn’t it your job to know how our schools are so we can have informed decisions made about our schools?” one woman in the audience said.
Coots said he has visited the school several times, spoken to staff and he was not made aware of the severity of the issues until recently.
“We’re at the point now where this can has been kicked down the road so long that we don’t have a choice. We have to do something,” he said. “We are basically are assuming a huge legal liability just to keep the school open for this last month so kids can finish school this year.”
A woman asked if the board has known these repairs were needed for years, why is it just now coming to light as an immediate concern.
“There are a lot of other things that have to be considered when a board is getting ready to make that decision,” said Superintendent Bruce Smith. Smith said declining enrollment is a concern not only for Lincoln County, but across the state and the country.
Smith said the high school is in need of repairs that could cost up to $9 million according to estimates.
Coots said the cost of building a new 300-student capacity elementary school could cost up to $30-to 35 million and that’s without unpredictable project costs that come later in construction.
“If we had the money we would be building two new elementary schools right now,” said Board Member Christine Killen.
McGuffey said he is a sentimental person who believes in history and tradition. Highland Elementary was opened in 1959.
“Asking me to vote to close Highland is like asking me to close Hustonville,” McGuffey said. “I’ve spent every Sunday of my life for 21 years at Highland United Methodist Church.”
McGuffey said a few months ago the board had plans and thought they were going to build two new schools. Now that the state is no longer going to match a nickel tax, that option is less feasible.
“Now we know that’s probably not an option, so I do have concerns about if we were to close Highland,” he said. “Things tend to be cyclical, if those enrollments go back up, will we have somewhere to put those students? If we’re going to need a new facility, I can hear the voices now in ten years say, ‘well we had Highland and they chose to close it.”
McGuffey said the district can spend up to $10.8 million on fixing the school.
“Are we willing to spend that much money?” he asked. “Will the enrollment hold?”
Another member of the audience asked several times if the board has looked into grants to help with repairs.
“We have received millions of dollars in grants for various programs but I’m not aware of any grants that have been looked at for facility-type things,” Smith said.
Coots said even if there are, they wouldn’t keep the school open next year.
“I keep hearing we can’t open the doors next fall but I also hear we’re in compliance, so where’s the disconnect?” one man in the audience asked.
“You can drive your car around on bald tires when you have four wheels on there that will roll, but its a huge safety issue,” Coots said. “Because of the issues with that facility and the fire suppression system and everything else, it’s a huge liability risk. If you were to open it up and something were to happen, the district would go bankrupt in fines and HAZMAT clean up and everything else.”
Architect Joseph Clark of ClotfelterSamokar, who has been contracted by the school district provided some rough cost estimates Thursday night.
“43,000 square feet is the smallest size elementary school you can build. Highland is roughly 35,000 square feet. If you wanted to construct a new facility for Highland, my estimate would be between $17 and 18.5 million,” Clark said. “…If you looked at renovating you’re looking at between $12 to 14 million. That’s to do everything…students out of portables, upgrading HVAC, windows, lighting, roof, all of your safety features.”
Clark said rough estimates are subject to change and another thing to consider is there could be a building code change to require storm shelter construction in the future.
Coots said based on figures provided last week, if Highland were to close, 76 students would go to Waynesburg and 61 would go to Stanford and 14 or 15 to Crab Orchard.
The two-hour meeting ended with the vote to close the school.
