[Vision2020] JUST THE FACTS

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GUESS WHAT TOM.......... DON'T HAVE TO CUT AND PASTE A ZILLION ARTICLES AS THIS FRONT PAGE DAILY NEWS ARTICLE SAYS IT ALL.


Leila Summers

Paul O'Sullivan said the Moscow School District facilities bond is a good investment for students now and in the future. 
The Moscow resident said he hopes to see his two children - one in eighth grade at Moscow Junior High School and the other a 2-year-old - eventually attending top-notch facilities. 

"If we build these now, we will have many years to utilize them," he said. 

Moscow resident Heather Whipple disagreed. She said the projects proposed in the $29 million facilities bond surpass community needs and a reasonable cost amount. 

Whipple, who home-schools her child, said she would be content fixing existing buildings without new construction projects. 

"There are ways to address the problems without building a new school," Whipple said. 

Voters will decide between the diverging viewpoints Tuesday when they vote on the school district's proposed bond. 

The plan calls for construction of a four-year high school next to Mountain View Park, renovating Russell and West Park elementary schools and renovating the current Moscow High School building to house Paradise Creek Regional High School. 

The bond is scheduled to be paid over a 20-year time span and will total $46 million with interest. 

The election requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass, said Moscow School District clerk Annette Erickson who oversees the election. She said the election doesn't have a minimum number of votes required for validation. 

The measure also calls for a change in the configuration of district schools. The proposed new high school would house grades nine through 12, pulling ninth-graders from the junior high school. The junior high school would then become a sixth- through eighth-grade building and all district elementary schools would change to a kindergarten through fifth-grade configuration. 

Upgrade projects are scheduled to start in 2006 and finish in fall 2009, if the bond is approved. 

First on the list of projects is construction of the new high school on a 40-acre site of property next to Mountain View Road. The Trail family of Moscow, current owners of the land, agreed to donate 30 acres if the district purchased 10 additional acres. The agreement also specified the site be used for a new high school and required a fence to separate school grounds from surrounding farmlands. 

Dave Trail, manager of the Trail family lands, wouldn't comment on a price for the 10 acres the district must purchase. The Moscow School District facilities planning committee has been working with a price range between $23,000 to $25,000 per acre, but Trail wouldn't verify if the family would ask a price higher or lower from the district. State law requires the district have the land appraised. 

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Trail said. 

Trail also said his family agreed to donate 20 percent of the money paid for the 10 acres back to the school district for construction of the required fence. 

The $20 million new high school would provide regular classrooms in addition to specialty classrooms for music, art, drama and professional-technical education. What the high school won't include is an auditorium, football stadium or track. Plans call for using such facilities at the current high school and junior high school. 

Other features of the new high school include a media center, computer lab, multi-media production center, cafeteria, student commons area and gymnasium. 

Architects plan to include a transportation drop-off area for parents and buses, 60 parking spaces for students and teachers, sidewalks, bicycle paths and fields for physical education. They also plan to extend F Street around to the school building and have a second entrance by Mountain View Park. 

Once the new high school construction is completed in 2008, architects plan to move West Park and Russell elementary school students into the existing high school building as construction starts on the elementary schools. 

The $4 million renovation project for Russell Elementary School includes a two-story addition of classrooms and an elevator to the northwest end of the building, and removing the portable classrooms currently there. 

The plan includes adding two kindergarten classrooms, enlarging 10 first- through fifth-grade classrooms, adding rooms for music, art, special education, a computer lab, a media center/library and remodel of the rest of the building. The kitchen, cafeteria, gymnasium, and four small rooms for Title I offerings also would receive upgrades. 

Sinks would be included in each classroom along with new cabinets and bookcases. The school's outer shell would be attached to the roof, which it currently is not. 

The plan provides a seismic upgrade, fire protection and alarms, doorways accessible to the disabled, new heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The power, lighting and data system would be improved along with bathroom facilities. 

A grassy area would be added to the southwest corner of the school playground in addition to two new play equipment structures. 

West Park would receive a $4.6 million upgrade if the bond is approved by voters. 

Many of the same upgrades and additions planned at Russell also are scheduled at West Park. 

In addition, the core spaces at West Park will be able to accommodate additional future classrooms and more students. 

The elementary school projects are scheduled for completion in the fall of 2009. Architects would then address the existing Moscow High School building. The school district plans to house Paradise Creek Regional High School, currently located in a former Circle K convenience store, into the second floor of the high school. 

"The district wants to move the alternative high school onto district-owned property," said Lauretta Campbell, a Moscow High School junior who served on the facilities planning committee. 

For $400,000, architects will provide a minor remodel to existing classrooms, make restrooms handicap accessible, remove the 1968 annex, landscape the existing courtyard and add 80 to 100 parking spots along Third Street. 

The district also is examining plans to start a community education program in the third floor of the Moscow High School building, expand vocational programs in the first floor, and lease the 1991 annex to Latah County. 

Though the bond addresses needs at the three oldest buildings in the district, the proposed new high school has stirred the most controversy in the Moscow community. 

Some suggested architects over-priced renovations needed at the current high school to make a new high school seem more viable. Others simply argued the high school at its current location supported the concept of neighborhood schools. 

Moscow resident Janice Willard, who lives near the proposed 40-acre site, said the location doesn't promote smart growth. 

"There is a quaintness to this town and I don't want to see it a sprawling nightmare," Willard said. "Having the high school downtown keeps downtown vibrant." 

Moscow High School student Ben Flores said he supports plans for the new high school. 

"The cost of the bond won't affect people's quality of life," Flores said. "We need to look into the future. There's nothing more we can do with (the existing) high school." 

A split in the community's support for a bond issue also was shown in a survey conducted by the district in January. Survey results indicated a third of the community opposed a bond, one third supported a bond, and the remaining third were undecided. 

It may be undecided voters like Moscow resident Pat Lucker who ultimately swing the bond's fate. Lucker said she needs to learn more about the bond before she votes on Tuesday, if she decides to vote at all. 

"These are all projects that should have been done years ago," she said. 


BOND BASICS 

* Moscow patrons can cast votes in the Moscow School District facilities bond election at the Latah County Fairgrounds Tuesday. 

* Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Exhibit Building, located at 1021 Harold St. in Moscow. 

* The bond election requires a two-thirds majority vote in order to pass and doesn't require a minimum number of ballots. 

* If approved, the $29 million bond will attach to the end of the school district's current bond which is scheduled to end in August 2006. The total cost of the bond at the end of its 20 year payoff period will be about $46 million. 

* If approved by voters, the bond would cost property taxpayers $2.22 per $1,000 of taxable assessed property value. Moscow residents currently pay 96 cents per $1,000 of taxable assessed property value on a bond scheduled to end in August 2006. 

n The $2.22 bond rate translates to a $222 annual cost for a home with a taxable assessed value of $100,000. 

- Leila Summers 


Leila Summers can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 239, or by e-mail at lsummers at dnews.com.