WH Schools unfurls plan for new k-5 building on campus
West Holmes Schools Superintendent Eric Jurkovic, right, explains the process the board and district personnel went through to arrive at the solution of building a new district school building on the current high school and middle school campus for elementary students.
After months of developing and fleshing out a game plan, countless meetings, many community-based informational evenings, and processing the best way to pursue the school district progression into the future in terms of its facilities, the West Holmes Local School District announced its plans to build a new k-5 school building on the current campus on which both the high school and middle school currently reside.
For treasurer Jamie Mullet and WH Schools Superintendent Eric Jurkovic, who made the presentation at the recent school board meeting on Monday, Aug. 21 in the high school library, it boiled down to two simple objectives.
“First, we wanted to do what was best for our kids,” Mullet said. “We also knew that people were concerned about the idea of raising taxes, so we found a creative way to make sure that didn’t happen. This is a great opportunity for West Holmes, a great opportunity for our community, and in the conversations we’ve had, it’s a great opportunity for our county. I’m excited about it.”
She said throughout this process of finding a way to keep the burden of funding the school off of the taxpayers, she kept asking herself if it was even possible because of the way all the various aspects had to fall into place to make it happen.
“The biggest message we were given during the process was that people can’t afford more (taxes), so we found some other means,” Mullet said.
She said the one really heart-wrenching part about the decision was knowing how much each individual elementary school means to their respective communities, but she said people need to understand the long-term value of making this move to one k-5 building and the cost savings it presents to the district, along with the many educational advancements that accompany the build.
“That’s difficult,” Mullet said. “It’s emotional. But these old buildings weren’t designed for today’s education. When these buildings were built, we were educating 12 grades in these buildings and putting multiple grades in classrooms. We’ve done an awesome job using them and making them the best they can be, but coming together in a central campus and the opportunity in education is hard not to look at.”
In order to take the burden off of taxpayers, West Holmes Schools is taking operating money and shifting it to permanent improvements to finance a new building. The district will be decreasing operating expenses going from four elementary buildings down to one elementary building.
Mullet said the process of finding a way to avoid adding taxes to local homeowners in the district included a transfer of 2.9 mills from operating to permanent improvements and putting an end to collection on two operating levies, along with an expiring bond issue.
“This allows us to build a new kindergarten through fifth grade building without needing a new levy from our community,” Mullet said.
She said this will decrease the 2024 taxes for district homeowners by $25 per $100,000 of property value.
This process will result in a reduction in the 2024 calendar year tax bill for those that have not added any structures to their property since the prior year tax assessment. The district will further reduce operating expenses by consolidating to one centralized elementary school while providing several benefits.
According to Mullet, those benefits include an increase of time for one-to-one student care by psychologists, social workers, speech therapists and school nurse; providing more options for parents for childcare by providing bus service outside of their current elementary school area where they are limited to now; safety concerns minimized with secure entrances and a full-time deputy on campus at all times with modern safety cameras; the addition of modern fire safety systems and sprinklers and modern heating and cooling systems with proper air filtration; and the addition of modern lighting and new classrooms equipped with the latest technology to prepare students for the 21st century.
In addition, it will provide grade-level collaboration and common planning time for improved instruction; centralize resources for art, physical education and music to allow more classroom time in place of travel time; create a building designed for special needs students and accessibility to all parts of the building; improve layout of the cafeteria; allow for allocation of building staff to regulate class sizes and improve efficiency of the use of services by personnel; maximize personnel leads to decrease operating costs and increase services (regular, special and gifted) with three buildings closer in proximity; decrease overall utility expenses, maintenance costs and operating expenses required of one versus four buildings; and afford the district with the right size of footprint to reduce the long-term burden on taxpayers.
While the process begins now, it is a long and arduous undertaking that will take time to build. According to Jurkovic, it will be several years before students will actually be learning in the new facility.
“It could be 2027-28 or 2028-29 before we move in,” Jurkovic said. “It all depends on how supply and demand goes, but it’s an exciting first step in the process.”
Jurkovic said the future involves figuring out what to do with the current four elementary buildings.
“We have two options,” he said. “We can auction them off like they did in Clark, or we can demolish it and auction the property.”
He said there are already a number of area businessmen who have approached the district about purchasing the current school properties, of which there is around 25 acres among the four schools.
He said the ballfields at both Lakeville and Nashville were a source of discussion, and they have the option to donate those to the villages.
“It’s all part of the next step, but that is down the road once we get everything completed with the new school,” Jurkovic said.
Anyone wishing for further details may call either Jurkovic or Mullet at 330-674-3546.