By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
The long-term plan selected by the ad hoc Capital
Facilities and Student Growth Committee of the Juab School
District is to develop three kindergarten through sixth
grade schools.
The short-term plan the committee supported also
included the creation of three kindergarten through sixth
grade schools.The short term plan should address growth in
the district for at least three years.
The long-range plan would entail building a new
elementary school in south Nephi at a cost of approximately
$8 million; remodeling the current Nephi elementary at a
cost of approximately $1.5 million; and adding a 10,000 to
12,000 foot classroom wing at Mona Elementary at a cost of
$1.5 million and receiving support from the community
through a bond election.
"We had no problem with the long-term solution," said
Mace Lenhart, general chairman in making the committee's
report to the board on Wednesday.
Assigned by the school board to determine what
educational solution would best meet the needs of the
district, committee members are, Joyce Andrews, Jackie
Christensen, Ron Christensen, Wayne Fish, Pam Foster, David
Jones, Mark Jones, Val Jones,, Pam Lynn, Betty Morgan, Sandy
Nielsen, Trisha Rindlisbacher, Andrew Robinson, Greg Rowley,
Howard Stubbs, Suzy Tangren, Norman Wall, Brady Williams and
Mary Wohlforth.
Chairman of the sub-committees are Mark Jones,
financial status and capacity of the Juab School District;
Suzy Tangren, populations and growth&emdash;current status
and projections; Mary Wohlforth, building utilization and
capacity--alternate scheduling; and Sandy Nielsen, short
therm solutions to the current growth problems.
The committee met five times from Jan. 17 to March
9,
"We discussed the seven plans brought before us," said
Lenhart. "No one was in favor of year-round schools."
That suggestion and the split-session school proposal
were both dismissed fairly quickly in the discussion, he
said. The majority of the committee favored the creation of
three neighborhood elementary schools and, thought that, in
the long-run, the plan would facilitate a smooth transition
to the district's long-term K-6 intents.
The proposal would also make it easier to move
students from school to school as new and remodeled schools
come on line because schools would move as a block.
The one disadvantage, is that such a move, which
proposes using the Juab Middle School site as an elementary
during the building period, would require an immediate retro
fit of the building.
"It would cost approximately $15,000 to prepare the
building to be a K-6 school and then approximately another
$15,000 to retro fit it back to a secondary school," said
Mace.
Playground equipment would need to be purchased and
installed. Most playground equipment has a five-year life
span so the equipment may or may not be worth moving at the
end of the long-term plan which would take approximately
seven years to complete.
The short-term proposal, also includes the addition of
another modular unit to the Nephi Elementary school.
Committee members told the board that the number of
student moves under each option was a main consideration in
selecting a short-term plan recommendation. Option Six, the
one the majority voted in favor of, requires the fewest
moves.
In 2005, the district would create three K-6
elementary schools with separate attendance areas, in 2008,
the NES would move as a block to the new south school, and
in 2009, the Nephi north elementary would move to the
remodeled NES.
Option six (the one discussed) received the majority
of votes with 14 of the possible 19, voting for the
choice.
"We did have a majority vote," said Lenhart.
One problem to be addressed, he said, was that when
the elementary school was moved to the secondary school
property, the district should consider staggering when the
secondary and elementary schools meet so that the young
students are not one the streets with the high school's teen
drivers.
"These kids (elementary) should be in school when the
high school starts," said Lenhart.
Mona meets one-half hour later in the morning than
does Nephi Elementary, said Kirk Wright, superintendent.
"The north school could meet at about the same time as
Mona Elementary," said Wright. "We did have a traffic
engineer take a look at the traffic flow when we were
designing the high school. We followed that recommendation
and it has worked very well."
As far as the population of students considered for
the south school over the north school, said Tangren, she
lives in the gray area.
"My neighborhood, my primary, will be affected," she
said.
Her home is located just one block west and one south
of the north school.
"If you could project where that dividing line would
be," she said, "it would have a lot of time to plan things
that inter-lock in our community."
She would like to see students kept together in the
group they would be in when the south school opens and when
the north school is remodeled. That way they could have a
"security blanket" that would help them be happy in
school.
Leon Pexton, board president, said the district's
long-term planning had proved to be good, thus far.
"Building the high school when we did was exactly right and
it did give us room to grow but we also maxed out the credit
card."
"When we bought land for the high school, we also
bought land for the new elementary school on the north of
Nephi," said Pexton. "We now have pockets of growth on the
south and new growth seems to be moving in that
direction."
Betty Morgan, an educator who was on the committee,
suggested the board hurry up and determine what they were
going to do so that educators could make plans for the
coming year.
Those who were accustomed to meeting in the
fifth/sixth grade center, for example, were used to rooms
with light to rooms with no windows and from advanced
technology to less technology.
"We are dedicated to providing the same educational
opportunities for all children," said Pexton. "There is the
capability today to have a wireless building. We need to do
the best we can."
However, he said, his concern was pupil to teacher
ratio. When Levan had its own school, students came into
Nephi in the ninth grade. They were not disadvantaged
because they had excellent teachers and a good student to
teacher ratio.
Another suggestion that district schools be kept as
they are until the new south school is built was not doable,
said Delanie Hathaway, board vice-president. The district
was already out of room at Nephi Elementary.
Sandy Nielsen said the committee did not take their
assigned task lightly and spent a great deal of time
considering the different options before making
recommendations.
"We did not go in with one plan in mind," she said.
"Any plan we discussed caused some pain and grief for
somebody. We tried to set the emotion aside. The
recommendation we have made has manageable concerns."
Pexton said he wanted to thank the committee for the
excellent work they did. He realized it took a lot of study,
time and effort and expressed the district's thanks for the
hard work.
Morgan urged the board to make a quick decision.
"We are under pressure to make a decision," said
Pexton. "By default, we have a short time-line."
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