The Prairie Central school board and members of the public continued discussions on future building options during another special meeting of the board Monday night in Fairbury.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Chatsworth Mayor Richard Runyon was the first to speak.
“If we can remodel our communities’ schools to provide a safe and comfortable learning environment for our children and comfortable work environment for our teachers, stop all of this ridiculous bussing and save the taxpayers money, why would we consider anything else?”
Runyon said he did not find much when researching BLDD Architects to learn their values and what type of research they do.
“I liken them to Wal-Mart – they don’t sell what you want, they sell what they want you to have.”
Katie Cavanagh, a Chatsworth town trustee who has worked for the Prairie Central district, expressed concerns over losing the local school which she said could have a severe impact on the community, pointing to the businesses and industries there.
“The people of Chatsworth do not want a School Street without a school,” she said.
Gordan Whitmar of Chenoa said there are people in the district who don’t want more taxes.
Marion Shier of Chenoa applauded the school board’s decision asking for community input.
“We need to make sure we provide the students a good education,” Shier noted.
He doesn’t feel transportation expenses could be reduced significantly.
Spencer Shipley of Chenoa considers it “disrespectful” to the people of Chenoa and Chatsworth for the board to “turn their back” on the schools.
“This would kill all of the momentum we’ve built over the past several years,” Shipley explained.
Prairie Central Board of Education Vice President Tim McGreal laid out a taxpayer cost analysis with different scenarios to gauge economic impact. One plan was a no-tax status quo, another was a phased-in plan that was no tax and the third was a full blown $90 million plan which raised taxes a certain amount.
“I guess what I was trying to look at is what is the economic impact over 20 years to the district,” McGreal stated after the meeting.
McGreal said he was trying to create conversation and figure out how the district could lessen impacts for the larger projects.
“The more money we have up front, the less economic impact there is to the community so it boils down to somehow we have to figure out how to either contribute more funds that we have in reserves or we have to increase the tax rate even further,” McGreal added.
According to McGreal, the idea is to try and pay the principal load down and reduce the interest portion of bonds.
The main proposal on the table came from the PACT Committee which is a centralized process for a K-5 school, maybe built in stages.
“We received tonight as best as we can the implications of centralized and non-centralized options,” observed PC Board President John Wilken.
Wilken acknowledged the next step is to see if there are any other proposals or configurations which need to be seriously evaluated by the architect. He feels proposals from the report are “well defined” and they need to either add other options in or eliminate them saying they’ll stick to the ones they already have.
District travel between schools was a topic that came up Monday night.
“If you believe we ideally shouldn’t have Chenoa and Weston people on the west side of Fairbury cross in the middle of the district or if you believe conversely that Chatsworth and Forrest people really shouldn’t be asked to go to Weston or Chenoa for their children’s attendance, then you ultimately are saying that you believe the Junior High should be in Fairbury,” Wilken told Fairbury News following the meeting.
When a Junior High should be in Fairbury is a totally different question, in Wilken’s opinion.
“Maybe we’re talking 50 years from now when that building is for some reason not worth keeping anymore.”
Wilken said they are trying to make sure they have not left any stone unturned.
Board member Brad Duncan said when people hear the term renovations, they may think a building will look totally different when that’s not always the case. Duncan suggested consolidating school buildings could help with principal salaries.
“I don’t want to leave future boards in a mess either,” stated Duncan.
“Would we need more administrators with one school?” asked board member Ben Stoller.
Superintendent Paula Crane said there would likely be a principal and dean of students at a building.
Stoller wants the district to watch costs and be responsible with taxpayer dollars.
“It seems like renovations usually cost quite a bit more,” Stoller said.
More special meetings to continue the conversation are planned for July 15 and 16 with a regular monthly board meeting planned for July 18.
“Let’s try to narrow this down,” stated Wilken.
“We need to figure out what works for us as a board,” added McGreal.
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