The ISD 166 school board took a tour of the school building Friday, December 10, 2010 to look at ways the school could make more efficient use of space as enrollment continues to decline. (L-R) Superintendent Beth Schwarz, Jeanne Anderson, Debra White, Mary Sanders, Rod Wannebo, Bill Huggins. They met with Wade Cold of ORB Management, a consulting firm that assessed and recommended ways to consolidate space.
Cook County Independent School District 166 is shrinking – but its facilities are not, and as student enrollment continues to decline, the per-student cost continues to rise. With the idea of being more efficient with the district’s use of space, Superintendent Beth Schwarz took up a consulting firm’s offer to assess the building’s current use and recommend changes that could save the district money.
In a special work session on Friday, December 10, 2010, Wade Cole of ORB Management went with the school board on a walking tour of the school complex to describe his firm’s recommendations. ORB has been hired by the county to oversee the planning and construction of a new community center.
Cole recommended that the superintendent’s office be moved to where the high school officeis now and that the high school office be combined with the elementary office and located where the high school library is now. Thehigh school library would move over to where the elementary library is, and a sheetrock wall would be removed so the elementary library could take over the underused elementary science room.
The Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) rooms could possibly be moved to the elementary special ed rooms across the hall from the preschool and kindergarten. Superintendent Schwarz said she hoped having ECFE rooms near the preschool and kindergarten where parents could see what goes on there would attract more families to ISD 166.
Another change could be to move the fourth and fifth grade classrooms to the same hallway as the first through third grade classrooms, leaving the fourth and fifth grade hallway open for specialist programs.
If the high school office were moved to the current library space, the plan would be to install a window along the Eagle door wall so office staff could see who was coming and going out of the building and to make that the only unlocked entrance into the entire school complex.
Schwarz said consolidating spaces could save on the cost of lights and cleaning, and if the spaces no longer used could be rented out, the district could even make some money. They would want to think about how they could control who could rent spaces, she said, because they would prefer, for example, a law officeover a tattoo parlor.
Making the proposed changes would cost the district money. Some of the funding from the recently passed referendum is designated for building needs, Schwarz said. She said she expects that some community members might think consolidating space would be worth the cost, while others might think they were taking advantage of the fact that the referendum passed.
Eric Kemp said they need to compare how much the building changes would cost with how much money they would save in making those changes.
The board toured the industrial arts classrooms and discussed a need for more welding space. “Northeastern Minnesota needs more people trained in industry,” Leonard Sobanja said, “and we are not meeting that bill.” She said she wants to find out if new shop teacher Sam West will be sticking around for a few years because they need his vision for the department before changing anything.
“We as a board have to set the vision for that program,” Rod Wannebo answered. He suggested shorter, and thus more, class periods so that kids would be able to take a wider variety of classes.
The school is making industrial arts more of a priority again by planning to make West’s position full-time next year, Schwarz said, adding that she believes they should also teach the entrepreneurial skills that would enable Cook County grads to stay in the county. Theyare in the process of building a career course, she said. She said she believes they have too many specific course requirements, leaving too little room for electives.
Both Rod Wannebo and Mary Sanders indicated they believe the school should encourage kids to go on for further education after high school. Wannebo said he would like to see continued extracurricular activities in the areas of math, science and technology, and academics.
The board will discuss the possibility of building consolidation further at its January 19 meeting.
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