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School building plan debated
By BARBARA BEHRENDT
© St. Petersburg Times, INVERNESS -- School officials have completed a wish list of how to spend nearly $100-million during the next five years on school renovation, maintenance and construction projects. There are dollars set aside for more construction at Crystal River Middle School, for a new Citrus High cafeteria and for an addition at the CREST school. The list also has a whopper of a surprise: $33.6-million for a new high school, the most expensive project ever proposed to the School Board. Although the board has been talking for years about the need for a new high school, board members said last week that they did not expect to see money set aside for the project in this construction plan. Board member Ginger Bryant said when she first saw the high school listed in the plan, she had to go back over it several times to be sure she wasn't imagining something. "I think that we will probably need a new high school, but I just don't understand why it's in here," she said. "I'm boggled. It boggles my mind." Board member Pat Deutschman said when she saw the high school listed she wondered if she should go back and listen to the board meeting tapes in case she had missed something important. Even board Chairwoman Patience Nave was surprised, and she is a member of the committee that designed the plan. "I thought this was someday, way down the pike," she said. The plans calls for the district to set aside $20-million in 2004-05 and another $13.6-million in 2005-06. "You know, $34-million or $36-million is a lot of money for one school. What else will have to be neglected to do this?" asked Nave. "I'd probably be the first one to vote for a new high school," said board member Sandra "Sam" Himmel. "I hate the size our high schools have gotten. I think kids are getting lost. I think our guidance counselors have a hard time providing the services they need to. But I was surprised to see that (the new high school) in there." Himmel said that, with such an important project, there would have to be more discussion by the board. The board got its first look at the formal plan just last week. Members will be asked to approve it on Tuesday. Superintendent David Hickey said the board shouldn't be surprised. Instead, they should see the proposal as proof that the district's Long-Range Planning Committee wants the district to have the money available to build the high school when the time is right. Consultants hired by the board to help with construction planning told them months ago that, if they spent moved spaces around within the existing three high schools, they might be able to justify the need for a new school in the coming years. The district must prove such a need to the state in order to use state construction money to build a new school. Even though all three high schools are over capacity, the state feels there are not enough students to warrant a new high school. The board has been looking at various ways to ease the overcrowding, including beefing up programs to attract high-school-aged students to the Withlacoochee Technical Institute, offering more work-study programs or moving the academies into their own buildings. But none of those ideas appear on the construction plan. A new high school does. "I think our high schools are already crowded to the max, and I would like for us to have the money to build a new high school. I'd also like for us to have the numbers, too, but we were told we did not," said Bryant. Board member Carol Snyder said she was surprised to see the high school idea since she thought other, less-expensive means of coping with the overcrowding were going to be tried first. Despite her surprise, Deutsch man said she is not bothered by seeing the high school listed. The five-year plan doesn't obligate the board to spending their capital dollars on the projects listed now, and the plan can be changed later if other priorities become more important. A longtime advocate of having a committee assess future construction needs, Deutschman said that planning for expensive facilities is a good idea. Deutschman said part of the problem is that there are two schools of thought about where the high school population numbers are going. Some say the population will decline after a so-called "bubble" of current teens moves through the schools. Others say the numbers will continue to climb as the county continues its steady population growth. "We have to have a plan for how to spend our capital outlay dollars," Deutschman said. "Looking at this five-year plan, it's a tentative plan. . . . It's a good guess. That's probably the best you can say." Although the numbers might not justify building a new high school today, Deutschman said she thinks the board supports building a new school as soon as the numbers prove to the state that one is needed. "This is a plan; and with this plan, we prioritize all of our construction projects for the next five years," Hickey said. "If further study shows that a new high school is needed, we'll have the dollars to build it at the end of four or five years." Hickey said there is no interest in bond issues or sales tax revenues as future funding methods, he said. The district should be able to meet all its other construction needs and still set aside enough money for a high school, he said. "We feel we have a very, very good five-year plan," Hickey said. There also is $600,000 set aside to buy a site for the new high school, and several properties are being researched. Another $200,000 is included to buy a new site for the Renaissance Center. Expanding the center's programs could draw more students away from the crowded high schools as well. Although the only dollars set aside for the purchase of a 150-acre tract adjacent to Crystal River High School are $105,000 to complete payments for various studies of the property, the five-year plan does allow for the land's purchase. The plan shows that the district predicts a lower amount it will receive from impact fees from $600,000 in the current year to $200,000 in 2002-03. Then in the next three years of the plan, that total goes back up to $1-million each year. The Crystal River land deal, if approved, would be funded through impact fee credits rather than a direct purchase. The board is also expected to hear an update on that project Tuesday. Millions of the remaining construction dollars would go toward remodeling, repairs and maintenance projects. Other major capital projects in the coming year include: $4.96-million for the new Citrus High cafeteria, $1.5-million for renovations and a new media center at Withlacoochee Technical Institute and a variety of smaller projects to help the high schools deal with crowded conditions. In the 2002-03 year, the plan includes $5.7-million to renovate or reconstruct Building 100 at Crystal River Middle School and other related projects, $3-million for improvements and possible new construction at Homosassa Elementary School, $1-million for site work at Crystal River High School and $1-million for designing the new Renaissance Center. In the following year, 2003-04, the plan has $3-million to construct the new Renaissance Center and $1.35-million to build an addition at CREST. - Staff writer Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or 564-3621.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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