Board works to trim costs from possible high school project

Members of the Medford School Board on Monday called for more cuts to be made to a proposed $29.5 million high school renovation project.

Representatives from Findorff and Plunkett Raysich Architects (PRA) presented a breakdown of potential costs and areas work would be done as part of the plan. Voters in the district had previously rejected a $39.9 million referendum in fall 2020 and again last spring.

This sent the district and planners back to the drawing board and in the process eliminating a new theater and new gym from the proposed plan and instead focusing on higher-priority projects such as expanding and renovating science, technology classroom spaces and improving security in the building. In addition to the work at the high school, the project includes the addition of an access road from the Medford Area Elementary School parking lot to the west to CTH Q. That access road is estimated to cost $672,263 and would be intended to divert the amount of traffic in as elementary school parents drop off and pick up students.

While expressing support for the new access road, board member John Zuleger said he felt there were other areas that could be trimmed. He questioned the need to add 162 new parking spots in a new lot in the front of the building. He said that digging into and leveling the hill for a parking lot would take a lot of effort and be expensive. “I can’t imagine needing another 162 parking spaces,” Zuleger said, noting that the district has enough trouble keeping up with the maintenance of the existing asphalt. “It is a big expense,” he said.

According to the designers, the intent would be to improve security by directing the student traffic through the front door to the school, stating that if the school is going to put in a security entrance at the front of the school then everyone should go through it.

Maintenance director Dave Makovsky noted that with the addition of classroom spaces to the technology area in the rear of the building, the school would lose parking. If the district received the federal grant funds to construct a dome, district administrator Pat Sullivan noted they would lose even more spaces.

“We are not losing 162 spaces,” Zuleger said, making the point that the cost of building the new parking area would not be cheap and scaling it back to something half that size would save money. The parking lot is included in the site work estimate of $2.12 million. Zuleger suggested they could cut $1 million from that area by reducing the size of the new lot. He called on the designers and board to whittle the project down to what was essential.

“Let’s not push the agenda more than we have to,” he said.

Board members also called for the company representatives to go though the $5.35 million estimated for capital maintenance and look at what projects it would be better to do when work was done on classroom spaces and what could remain in the district’s 10-year capital plan. Board president Dave Fleegel suggested that instead of fast-forwarding all the projects on the maintenance schedule, they could reduce the amount of the project by doing just what made sense to do now.

Erika Freeman of Findorff noted that while they would look at that area further, they had already reduced it down from the $9.6 million that had been identifi ed as needs in the last referendum. She said the systems portion alone accounts for $4 million in costs.

Zuleger questioned the need for such a large expansion of the cafeteria area. The proposal calls for spending $1.39 million to the serving area and seating, as well as bring the student-run Raider Cafe into the cafeteria. This would nearly double the square footage of the cafeteria space.

“If we are doubling the space can we get one lunch?” Zuleger asked.

The high school currently runs two lunch periods and there has been concern raised among some parents that students cannot get through line and eat in the time they have, the serving area expansion was intended to help address those concerns but would also take up what is currently eating space.

Principal Jill Lybert said the current two-lunches works well in the school schedule and did not advise changing it. It was also noted that even with the expansion, it would not be big enough to house all the students at once.

Board member Brian Hallgren called attention to the locker rooms. The designer’s plans call for redoing the boys, girls and team room locker rooms spaces on the lower level. The team room locker room is part of the boy’s locker room and is used by the football team and other sports teams depending on the season.

The high school was built prior to Title IX and the growth in girls sports. As such it does not include a team locker room for the girls. Hallgren said if they are redoing the locker rooms the district should either add a team room for the girls teams or eliminate the team locker room and divide the space between the two main locker rooms.

Sullivan questioned if there was a way to make another space in that area. Vice principal Andy Guden noted that there is an athletics storage room adjacent to the girls locker room that could give more space. Other options would be developing an additional team locker room for the girls on the main level of the building by the gym. Athletic director Ryan Pilgrim noted that athletes use the team locker rooms during their physical education classes, and that having some students upstairs and some downstairs may lead to supervision issues. Sullivan replied that is something that could be worked out.

Zuleger returned to the need to shave off costs wherever possible in order to make the project more palatable to voters. “Don’t make that sucker bigger than you gotta,” he said.

The designers will take the input from the board about areas that need work or will need to be trimmed and bring it back to the December 20 meeting. According to Sullivan, if the board wants to bring it to voters for the April election, they will need to make the decision that night.

In other business, board members:

_ Received a report on recent student testing and state report card results for the district. Curriculum director Laura Lundy reported on efforts that are being taken to get student ACT scores back to above state averages. This year’s scores dipped below the state average for the first time in many years. Lundy gave an overview of what is being done to address this and said that the goal is to unseat Mosinee to get the conference trophy for the best overall scores. All juniors are required to take the ACT test.

_ Approved the school year calendars for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. The calendars were developed with committee input in each of the buildings and with surveys put out to all staff. The major change in the calendars is to move the week-long spring break off of being Easter week and instead setting it for a late February/ early March date serving as a way to break up the year more evenly.

_ Received information on the upcoming election. Board members Aemus Balsis, Cheryl Wibben and Paul Dixon are up for reelection. Dixon officially announced that he would not be seeking another term. “Twelve years is enough for me,” he said noting some of the challenges that have faced public schools and the community in the past 12 years. “It was a pretty active 12 years,” he said.

_ Received a report on the teaching of cursive writing in the school system. Cursive writing continues to be a part of the elementary school curriculum with students learning it in third grade.

_ Approved a one-year transportation contract with Krug Bus Service for next school year. The contract calls for an overall increase of 5.1% reflecting the large jump in the consumer price index this year, driven in large part to the price of fuel, equipment and labor. The district typically has done 3-year agreements with the bus company, but is hoping that inflation levels off over the next year. The cost of the increase is estimated to be about $60,000.

_ Approved as part of the consent agenda, an addendum to the recently adopted 5-year charter school renewal for the Rural Virtual Academy. The addendum reflects some consortium member schools wishing to use the RVA for special education services and opens the door to that possibility.

_ Approved changes in the employee handbooks to give the district administrator the authority to impose penalties equivalent to one to two weeks of pay for staff members who were hired prior to the school year and who quit to go to other jobs at the last minute leaving the district in a bind for securing staff. The district had gotten away from imposing these penalties in past years with Dixon noting that generally if people didn’t want to be working for Medford schools the district would probably not want them here either. However, with the teaching shortage and jobs going unfilled, this gives the district a tool to discourage people from leaving at the last minute.