Marta McAllister Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Proceedings of the Planning and Development Committee School District No. 2, Yellowstone County High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Billings, Montana November 26, 2007 The Planning and Development Committee Meeting of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana, and the High School District, Yellowstone County, Montana was duly held at The Lincoln Center, 415 North 30th Street, Billings, Montana, Monday, November 26, 2007, at 5:30 p.m. Members present- Committee Chair Sandra Mossman, Executive Director of Elementary Education Kathy Olson, Trustee Peter Gesuale, Cheryl Malia-McCall, Margaret Aukshun, Anne Barlow, Jeff Dunham, Michael Iverson, Ali Manning, Trustee Tim Trafford, and, Executive Director of Human Resources Dan Martin. Special guests attending were Superintendent Jack Copps, Executive Director of the Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools, Anne Cole, Don Forbes and Betsy Forbes. Pledge of Allegiance- Chair Mossman presided- Introduction of members and guests- Discussion from the public: Anne Cole, Executive Director of the Education Foundation for Billings Public school and President of the Cottonwood Park Foundation shared her views and involvement with the community and school district. The Cottonwood Park Foundation that she is President of consists of 7 board members. They meet quarterly and help encourage the Parks Department to see Cottonwood Park as a reality. Her husband Bill Cole worked many hours with the Forbes to create a unique agreement with the city to build a park. She stated building a school and park combination is a great opportunity for the community and she would like to encourage the Trustees to not throw that away. She commented that under the leadership of Jack Copps, the community and school district had come together. She would caution the Trustees to not discount the voice of the people. Don Forbes said their main motivation for donating the 40 acres was due to the great experience of their children attending Rimrock Elementary. Having the school next to Veteran’s Park was ideal for the students. He stated it was a great place for the kids to meet and be together. Chair Mossman shared Don and Betsy Forbes donated 40 acres to the community and the school district was given an option to purchase 10 acres for $200,000.00. She thanked the Forbes for their generosity. Chair Mossman said some Planning and Development Committee and Board members requested maps to help them determine overcrowding areas. Chair Mossman thanked Kathy Olson for the map that was distributed to the committee members. The map identified where all the students are located. Superintendent Copps apologized to the members that were at the Board meeting as the information was a repeat. He said the map would provide the committee information regarding the students and their proximity to the proposed Cottonwood Park area. When the District was developing information on overcrowding, enrollment capacities were considered. He commented the map had every elementary school listed and that school’s relationship to its capacity. He reported if you have a K-6 school and if they were at 100% capacity allowed by law, the classrooms would be 25 students per class. For future building the district uses 94% of capacity and that would be 23 students per class. If you plan a school for 94% of capacity, you allow for growth and anomalies. He said the schools are not listed at 100% on the map because the neighborhood school concept guarantees students will have an opportunity to attend their neighborhood school. Superintendent Copps stated the maps detailed the schools in sections of Billings. The map grouped schools according to Heights, West, South, and Mid-town. The schools were grouped in areas where students were actually attending that school. West shows capacity at 98%, Mid-Town 98%, South 92%, and the Heights 92%. The Heights opened Beartooth Elementary School, which guaranteed every student in the Heights could attend their neighborhood school and allowed sufficient room for growth. On the Southside, 5 million dollars was given to Orchard for renovation. The Southside area schools are used as an overflow for kindergartners and Rimrock Elementary is used as a kindergarten center for student overflow. Superintedent Copps shared the Billings County Department has a software program that can help the District understand growth and locate where the students are. Because the map was broken into zones that show the density of students, the map was helpful when the District draws boundaries. He said that Shiloh is becoming a major commercial area and is a major thoroughfare without stop signs. He commented the area west of Shiloh road has 548 students and no neighborhood schools. He felt this area is new and was developing rapidly. He felt it was reasonable to conclude a school should be built west of Shiloh due to the continued growth. Chair Mossman stated she had heard the Planning and Development Committee and Board had questions they want answered. She commented Kathy would document all questions. Chair Mossman said the Administration would address the questions and provide answers. Trustee Goodrich stated the committee must be clear that the vote is about the purchase of the Cottonwood site and not the building of a new elementary school. The District has 10 years to decide to build a school on the Cottonwood property should it be purchased by the District. Cheryl Malia-McCall questioned what other housing developments were plotted for development in the Billings area that would affect growth in the schools. She commented by knowing where there would be new developments, would be helpful with futuristic planning. Kathy Olson established future areas of development that she was aware of. The developments that she could recall were Tuscany, Falcon Ridge, Lenhardt, and Grand Peaks to name a few. She said these are new subdivisions that will affect the north and northwest areas. Ali Manning questioned why the District had not started construction on the existing schools properties. She felt it was obvious that there was an overcrowding issue. Superintendent Copps reported the time frame to build a school would be approximately 2 years and recently, the public turned down a levy to build a new high school. He commented there is a site for a future middle school and property next to the Career Center for an elementary school. He reported there had not been decisions made to build a school on the sites to date. Trustee Goodrich noted in May of last year, the community voted for a levy. The last time a levy had passed was the year 2000. The District was getting operational costs under control. He determined credibility needed to be reestablished with the district. Trustee Goodrich commented there are many educational facility needs within the district. He commented there is a vision of a new school but there will be many questions of how, how much, where, etc. and that there will be a necessary dialogue with the community prior to a location decision. Ali Manning stated she heard $100,000.00 is a good price for the Cottonwood property, but there are deferred maintenance and educational issues that also need to be addressed. Chair Mossman said she would ask Rich Whitney, Director of Facilities to come and address those issues with the Planning and Development Committee. Superintendent Copps said the District is currently at 80 million dollars in deferred maintenance. He stated the district must take care of what it has and what it will have in the future. He suggested the community could do a combination of deferred maintenance and building a new school bond. Superintendent Copps said in a community of 100,000.00, it is entirely possible to have a bond measure to take care of the current deferred maintenance over a period of time, as well as build a new school. He said it was important to note that our community has 20 elementary schools. He reported if you assume that every school must be replaced every 100 years, then a school would either need to be replaced or renovated every 5 years. He felt as the community continues to grow; it should plan for expansion and anticipate those expenses. Trustee Gesuale commented that the community did pass a levy and the community does invest in their schools. Michael Iverson thanked the Forbes for their generous gifts. He questioned the types of homes that are being built. He wondered if it was logical to think there would be more children in more moderate priced homes. Kathy Olson stated the size and quality of homes would not be able to determine how many children will be in that development. She established the areas where moderate homes will be built and areas where more expensive homes would be built. Michael questioned what type of work had been done for the proposed school boundaries based upon the Cottonwood Elementary site as future school location. He stated the expectation of the public would be to build a school on the property if it is purchased. He asked how the boundaries would affect students and the current schools. Superintendent Copps reported no proposed boundary changes had been planned, but if the school was built, they would address that issue. The Principals were called in and they looked at the current boundaries and looked at what adjustments could be made. There would be no proposal until the site has been purchased. He would then involve the parents in the boundary change decision. Michael Iverson said that it was good to hear there had been preliminary work done regarding boundary changes. Chair Mossman reported there are several proposals of boundary change possibilities that Kathy and the school principals had come up with but no decision would be made until parents were involved. Michael Iverson said that is information he would like to review as a member of the Planning and Development Committee. Kathy Olson said as a committee member, he could draw up possible boundaries for consideration. Michael Iverson questioned if the 100,000.00 would pay for the utilities brought in to develop the Cottonwood property. Superintendent Copps said that with any school, the District would have to pay those incurred costs. He stated the city would bring in the sewer and power lines to the development next to the park. It would be the districts responsibility to bring the lines to the school property. He said it was his understanding the city is going ahead with the development next to the park. Dan Martin commented the land to the north of the Cottonwood property had already been approved for development by the city. He maintained here would be minimum distance between the new development and the Cottonwood property. Michael Iverson questioned if the 40-acre middle school site was only slated for a middle school. He asked if it was a possibility for an elementary school to be built on that property. He also questioned educational standards for the schools. Kathy Olson said that all schools must have rooms for Special Education as well as space for additional school programs such as; Read 180 and a Resource room. Open concept schools must have closed rooms for band and orchestra. Margaret Aukshun was concerned of what may happen if the Trustees do not go forward with the purchase of the land. She had seen some major changes in their classrooms due to the passage of the levy. She questioned what the community at large said about the Board tabling the proposal at the last Board meeting. Chair Mossman commented she received an incredible amount of phone calls from the public addressing this issue. She said the consensus had been the public had spoken. Superintendent Copps heard the same type of comments. Jeff Iverson said his neighborhood approved the purchase but when visiting with a family member, who is a PTA member at a different area; the question came up how it would affect her school. He also heard questions about deferred maintenance. Anne Barlow said the most powerful thing Billings Public Schools could do, in her opinion, is to demonstrate their ability to be visionary. She believed where a school was built, homes would follow. She believed schools sell real estate. She felt the community voting for the property was important and the district must follow through to sustain credibility. She also questioned if the land was not purchased, would the site become park land. Copps stated the city could put a library on the Cottonwood property or leave it as park land. He commented the District could not pay more than $100,000.00 for this property. If more were money was needed, the District would have to ask the public for additional funds. Anne Barlow stated where she worked as principal before retiring, schools that were next to parks were all positive. Trustee Gesuale showed growth in the past was more to the southwest and the new development was contradictory. He agreed there is overcrowding and the purchase of the land would be a smart purchase, but disagrees this should be the site for the next school to be built. He felt the District is ahead of itself to connect the two. He noted that there are many elementary schools that are very crowded. He pointed out schools such as Burlington, Central Heights, and Big Sky are not neighborhood schools. There are13 acres of school property located centrally of those schools. He stated he did not know if it was a better site than Cottonwood, but it was a legitimate question to ask. Trustee Gesuale asked how a school at the Cottonwood site would impact the schools versus a new school in the other site. He stated there are many neighborhood schools on the south side of Billings that are, as if not more crowded, than schools in the northwest area. He questioned why the District looked at a few schools overcrowding versus all of the schools in the district overcrowding issue. He felt it was important to keep the purchase of the land separate from the building of a new elementary school. Ali Manning said that when people voted for the land purchase, they also voted knowing it was for the building of a new school. Trustee Gesuale commented that he did not believe people believed that. He felt when it comes to a time when a school would be built; people would question how it would impact their schools. He claimed the surface had not been scratched to determine a proper school site. He felt when that decision was made; it would be more paramount than anything. He said steps to follow in determining a new school site should be: *1. Look at where students are located, where are they being bused to and from and where there is overcrowding. *2. See proposed boundaries. *3. Development layover Chair Mossman stated the committee should be aware the District purchases land in advance. The Eagle Cliffs property was owned 13 years before a school was built that particular site. Trustee Goodrich said that it is fundamentally critical to keep the issues of buying the property and building a new school separate. He felt it was a golden opportunity to acquire property. He said the information discussed on location of schools would change in eight years. He stated Shiloh would be a major growth area. He believed as a committee, Board, and more importantly as a community, we need to have a sense of vision. He claimed the focus would not have to be limited after the land was purchased. There would be other areas that are in critical need of attention and may need to be part of a collective package. He felt the community would support enhancing facilities and building the necessary schools. He stated dialogue was necessary with the community to make that happen. He believed the committee should recommend purchasing the Cottonwood site, and not miss the window of opportunity to purchase available property. He stated it would not be just a piece of land to purchase, but a piece of land attached to a park. Superintendent Copps stated the community should move past the-what is in it for me mentality- and do what is best for the community. Jim Majerus questioned how long the District had the land behind the Career Center. The committee determined the land was owned by the district since 1971. Jim Majerus asked if the proposed appraisal from the city came back for more than $100,000.00 to purchase the Cottonwood site then what size of a footprint would be needed to build a school on other property owned by the district. It was determined by Superintendent Copps that the recommended size an elementary site is 15 acres and if the land is next to other public properties it should be a 10-acre site. Jim Majerus thanked the Forbes for their generous offer and commented that the arguments are compelling. He felt it would be a lost opportunity if the land was not purchased. Dan Martin reported he had the benefit of being a part of the school district land purchases. He stated the committee should know about the Career Center property. About 5-6 years ago it was discussed that the Career Center property be turned into real estate. To initiate that development, the city required the district would have to build a street up to 32nd street. Therefore, the idea was dropped. The city owns approximately three acres within the thirteen acres as a park set aside. The neighbors in that area also opposed the idea of a housing development. In 2000, the city told the school district that the sewer lines would not go past 43rd street on Grand Ave. After the vote for a new high school, the city built sewer lines out to 56th street. That opened up the north area and the area for a quarter of a mile to the south side of Grand. He said it appeared that they were directing growth to the north of Grand. Dan established the difference of the boundaries lines on the maps for the elementary schools and high schools. Chair Mossman noted to the committee this is a status report for the Board and answers to the committee’s questions would be answered. She thanked the committee for their input. Michael Iverson reported that the District should not sit too long on the property if it is purchased because it has a 10-year time limit. Chair Mossman maintained that if a decision was made to not build a school on the site, the money would be returned by the city. Trustee Gesuale questioned if the city would give the money back if the District did not follow through with the school. He maintained that would be an issue for the lawyer. He stated that Shiloh is not the only major corridor and there are other children bused past major roads. Chair Mossman commented the 24 questions would be addressed and the administration would prepare answers to give to the Board. Trustee Gesuale questioned how the committee was to move forward. Chair Mossman stated it was in the hands of the Board. Michael Iverson questioned if the committee could recommend the Board un-table the issue. Trustee Goodrich commented claimed until it came off the table by the Board, it was a dead issue. Technically, the issue cannot be debated until it is un-tabled. The Board can make the decision to un-table or not. He said if the Board un-tables the issue then it can be deliberated further. He said if the Board should require more committee input on the acquisition of the property, it could be referred back to the committee for further determination. The committee could then make a recommendation to the Board. Michael Iverson said he felt the committee could make a recommendation because in essence the Board did as the committee asked. He stated if they could not make a recommendation then the meeting was a waste of time. Chair Mossman said that was not possible due to the tabling of the issue. Trustee Goodrich said if the Board had motioned to postpone the decision on the question for which it was given, then the committee could come to a conclusion. He said the Board, by its motion to table, has “trunked” the debate and unless the Board un-tables the issue at the next scheduled meeting, there can be no more discussions, questions, or purchase offer. He maintained for this body to render a conclusion as part of the Board, is operating in opposition to a motion approved. Ali Manning questioned if the committee could ask for a special session to un-table this issue. Trustee Gesuale informed the committee if a deliberate body holds meetings at least quarterly and the question is held until the next scheduled meeting, it would require a simple majority to un-table the question. He then added if the committee held an irregular meeting, which could be considered a special meeting, then it could be a requirement to have the person/s who tabled the issue, move to un-table the issue. He noted the Public was to be made aware of board agenda items and he stated there could not be deliberation amongst trustees prior to vote. He stated the issue should wait until the regularly scheduled meeting was held where a simple majority vote would be required. He hoped the issue would become un-tabled at the board meeting, so there may be further discussion. Chair Mossman stated their work was important and the Administration will get answers to their questions. Questions by the Planning and Development Committee that will be addressed: 1. Subdivision proposal 2. Lenhardt development 3. Land versus Build 4. Maintenance of current buildings 5. Boundary work 6. Utility work 7. Elementary versus Middle School site 8. Standards/room space 9. Taxpayer approval 10. Building/Ease space in all schools (What’s in it for me?) City wide 11. Visionary thinking 12. Listen to people! Credibility issue 13. What happens if land is not purchased 14. What if the city asks a higher price 15. Park and school + 16. Why focus only on one overcrowded school 17. Do voters know we have other land to build a school on 18. Impact on all overcrowding issues 19. Separate issues 20. Impact of site on boundaries 21. Career Center site 22. Footprint size 10-acres, 15-acres 23. Playground 24. Community? As there was no further discussion the meeting was adjourned at 7:15. _____________________ Sandra Mossman, Chair ______________________ Barb Gustafson, Recorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.