New Building Information
January 18, 2012
Click on Play to View Video About the New Building Proposal
At a meeting of the Riverside Board of Education in November, a petition was presented to the board requesting that a bond election be held on February 7th, 2012. The board reviewed the petition and determined that there were sufficient valid signatures to approve that request. Riverside held a bond election in April of 2011 with a request that was very similar, though there are some differences I will point out in this article. In the April election, 53% of the voters said yes to that ballot question, but according to current law, a 60% yes vote is required to pass a bond issue.
After listening to input from staff and patrons, there were a few changes made to the building’s proposed layout. The elementary commons area was reduced to allow for an elementary computer lab and a room that can be used for an elementary art room and possibly a music room. This will allow the elementary wing to be even more secluded from the rest of the student body. There were also several offices and service rooms added, including a Title I room and speech room in the elementary section and several needed offices for middle school and high school personnel. The following highlights were pointed out in the previous election that remain the same. They are:
- The elementary will be on the west and north sides of the building. There will be limited interaction with the middle school and high school students. Older students will be able to access all of their classrooms without coming into the elementary area.
- The building will be built to accommodate three sections for kindergarten, first, and second grades if the number trends continue to warrant the need. This will keep the pupil/teacher ratios low.
- There will be two preschool classrooms and one room for day care.
- Entrances into the building require visitors to pass through the central offices before entering the building, thus improving security.
- Three administrators will be in the building, located in the northwest corner (elementary principal), the commons proximity (high school principal), and the main entrance (superintendent).
- A single site will allow sharing of science labs, media center, family/consumer science room, social studies classrooms, and any other department that requires sharing.
- Commons area at the center of the building will be the eating area for our students eating in separate shifts.
- Auditorium will seat 375 (current capacity is 240).
- Gymnasium will have seating for 1200 in the main gym with lesser seating in the practice gym. A retractable wall will separate the two that will allow for larger events.
- 0) The building is a single story building making it fully handicapped accessible.
- 1) There will be efficient heating and air conditioning throughout the building.
Click Here to View New Building Layout
The location of the proposed new building remains unchanged. A picture of the building’s location is included. This is where the new building will be located on the property. Some of the highlights of the of the new building’s location were also pointed out in April and remain unchanged. They are as follows:
- Vocational Agriculture and Industrial Arts building conveniently located near the high school and middle school wings. The VoAg department will be able to utilize part of the property to plant crops and raise livestock on site.
- Parking capacity will be 350 cars (currently 142 cars at the high school).
- All fields in one location, thus eliminating the need for students to drive to practice sports or the need for our students to practice for track on our city streets.
- A turning lane on Highway 59 will be built to allow safe entering and exiting from the school.
Click Here to View Building and Site Layout
Additional Improvements with the New Proposed Building Project
- Less time traveling between buildings means more time that teachers can teach, more time that maintenance and technology staff can fix problems, more time that a nurse can help students in need, and more time administrators can work with staff and students.
- A single site for our educational complex follows the directive of a 2003 study conducted by the district (the Ghan Study) which stated, “Riverside is among the few districts in its enrollment category that operates the middle and high schools (at multiple sites). Districts this size find that it is more effective and efficient to operate . . . on one site. . .”
- Improved efficiency means money goes to make even more improvements in our educational program.
Estimated Savings Resulting from a New Building
Estimated savings have increased since our reporting in April but have more commonalities than differences. The following is a breakdown:
- Shuttle bus runs from building to building 24,000
- Energy savings (conservative estimate) 21,000
- Insurance savings 6,000
- Support staff savings 144,000
- Other (pest control, snow removal, etc.) 6,000
- Eliminates need for internet connectivity between buildings 17,000
Total 218,000
These savings will go a long way to providing the money we need to make instructional improvements needed for our students in the near future.
Tax Rate Information
For the current fiscal year (2011-12), Riverside’s tax rate is $10.19. Only six districts have tax rates lower than Riverside while the rest of the districts (more than 350 districts) across the state have tax rates higher than ours.
Town Meetings Scheduled in January
On Monday, January 23rd, there will be town meetings in all three towns beginning at 7 PM. We are holding the meetings simultaneously, but there will be some experts in each place to answer questions. In Carson the meeting will be at the middle school gym. In Macedonia, the meeting will be at the DeWitt Building, and in Oakland it will be at the high school auditorium. Please plan to attend one of the town meetings for more information on the proposed building project. It’s your chance to ask the experts your questions and get the facts. We will arrange tours of the current buildings following the town meeting if any of our patrons are interested.
Cost of the Project
The cost of the project has not changed. Although there have been several changes made to the floor plan, the square footage is unchanged. The architects’ estimates are just under $21.5 million dollars which includes the cost of including a geothermal heating/cooling system, but does not include the building of the bus barn, the moving of the athletic complex, and current building demolitions. The architects are conservative folks that are historically estimating their jobs about 10% higher if not more than bids received. And now is an excellent time to bid jobs. The district’s funds as outlined by Piper Jaffrey are as follows:
General Obligation Bonds …………………………………. $13,235,000
Sales Tax Bonds …………………………………………….$ 5,717,000
Cash on hand ………………………………………………. $ 2,656,000
Total ……………………………………………………….. $ 21,608,000
Like the architects, the bondsman has been careful to remain conservative. If bids are 10% lower than the architects have predicted, there will be sufficient money to move our entire athletic complex to the site and demolish whatever buildings that we need to. If the bids come in as predicted, the district can use PPEL and SILO funds to demolish buildings if necessary and move the athletic complex to the new site on a field by field process. As in the last election, the district’s approach regarding this project is to focus our financial attention on the top three priorities. They continue to be 1) preparation of the site for the building, 2) building the PreK-12 building with the VoAg/IA building, and 3) building a turning lane off of Highway 59. After those three priorities are met, the remainder of the money available will be used to include the demolition of buildings, geothermal heating and cooling, moving the athletic complexes, and building the bus barn.
