Meeting Highlights: Discussion on Design of New Wydown Middle School

The Clayton Board of Education met Thursday to hear updates and feedback on the design of the new Wydown Middle School. It is expected to take a vote on how to proceed at its Wednesday meeting. The following is a recap of the discussion in reverse chronological order.

10:14 P.M.: The meeting has ended. The board has asked that the architects examine the possibility of extending bay windows to the top of some parts of the building and incorporating a light-toned brick, among other options.

9:48 P.M.: Board members are getting up to review aspects they'd like to focus on next week.

9:46 P.M.: Board members appear in agreement that north-facing windows must remain as part of the final design.

9:39 P.M.: Board member Omri Praiss said the Option C scenarios should be taken off the table because their cost would be over budget. Not narrowing down the items for discussion next week could make for a difficult meeting at that time.

9:35 P.M.: Board member Steve Singer requests that Mueller and the design team factor in what audience members have said in presenting one or two final options to the board next week. "You have a bottom line number, you can't spend one dollar more than that," Singer said. "And you've got a lot of options here which are frankly way over."

9:32 P.M.: Images of the various options discussed at the Thursday meeting are available on the school district's Web site.

9:26 P.M.: Buttar asks that Monson help the board develop a criteria for evaluating the variety of options that have been presented.

9:22 P.M.: Option C would mean less light coming into some classrooms on the north side of the building, said Kevin Monson of Neumann Monson Architects. Windows of classrooms on the south side would need to have shutters or blinds.

9:19 P.M.: Another audience member: "I say all systems go."

9:12 P.M.: The audience member who earlier presented drawings to the board is again making a presentation. She appears to be asking what would be the harm of starting over on the project. Buttar raised her voice in responding, noting that several people had made comments about the board admitting defeat. She said that is not the case. "I would simply say that the mark of leadership is having imperfect information and still being able to move" forward, Buttar responded in part.

9:10 P.M.: One audience member questioned the proposed size of the field for the new school. "We have not sacrificed any educational value to get a field," board member Susan Buse responded.

9:06 P.M.: An audience member who identified herself as a mom in the Clayton school district said the fact that the discussion is focusing on aesthetics, not the affect of design on student learning, is a credit to those who have been involved in the design process.

9:03 P.M.: An audience member is asking questions about the future school's courtyard and balconies.

8:58 P.M.: Buttar responded that the board only recently received the concerns from the Architectural Review Board and has since tried to evaluate the design plans.

8:54 P.M.: Another audience member speaks in favor of Option C, which she said is a more traditional option. She asked why it took until the "eleventh hour" to present such an option. "Option C was more what people were voting for based on what had been projected through sketches at that time" when the bond issue passed, she said.

8:52 P.M.: An audience member has expressed support for the board.  "I appreciate the work that the board is doing and the process in listening to the community," he said.

8:50 P.M.: It appears that about 75 people are in the audience, not including board members and representatives with the companies involved in the design process.

8:45 P.M.: If additional changes are proposed that will cost additional money on the design of the school, Buttar said, the board will need to look at what can be cut to compensate for those updates. The board can't cut into contingency funds because those must remain for design purposes.

8:37 P.M.: Chief Financial Office Mark Stockwell of the School District of Clayton said all bonds have been issued for the middle school project. He was responding to an audience member's question. One has to have the intent to spend those bonds within three years of their issuance, with some leeway, he said. It wouldn't be acceptable to spend four years on the project, he said. The district got the bonds at an average rate of 2.6 percent, he said.

8:34 P.M.: Another audience member, who said she is a mom who will one day have students in the district, asks that the project move forward."I beg of you, please do not delay this," she said. The comments drew applause. Buttar took the mic briefly to ask that audience members not clap.

8:31 P.M.: One audience member quoted Robert Browning and then said: "Let's reach for a little bit of heaven and do it right. Stop insisting on something just to save face."

8:27 P.M.: Another audience member has provided printouts to board members that she says detail three small changes she would like to see happen on the exterior of the building. "They need to come out of their comfort zone and into ours," she said of Arcturis.

8:21 P.M.: Staff and visitors would enter the school's parking structure from Wydown Boulevard during hours when students are not being dropped off or picked up, Mueller said. A new south alley would be used during those drop-off and pick-up times.

8:15 P.M.: One audience member asked a question regarding the safety of the building based on . Buttar said she has complete confidence in administrators and the design team to make a safe environment for students.

8:11 P.M.: Buttar is reconvening the meeting so that audience members can begin asking questions.

8:06 P.M.: Audience members continue to persue the options presented tonight. While audience members who asked questions of presenters earlier in the night appeared critical of some of the plans' aspects, several people in attendance said they came to support the board in moving forward with the school:

• "I care what the environment is going to be," said Andy Welty, who has lived behind the school for three years. He has a daughter at the school and said Clayton needs a new school. The designs would be great for learning and they're very aesthetically pleasing, he said.
• "I'm for building the school," said Mary Perry, who has one student at the school. 
• "I'm hoping that the board will bring closure to this," said Laurie Anzilotti, who lives a block and a half from the school. She has one student at the school and three more children who will later attend it. She said the board has given enough time for input.
• "We need to get on with it," Chris Schmidt said. He is a Clayton resident who said he supports cost-sensitivity and moving forward.

7:49: P.M.: Middle point of meeting is here. People are going to the boards to review the various options.

7:48 P.M.: One audience member asked why the design team chose to propose a slate roof in Option C. Mueller responded that it's durable and aesthetically pleasing.

7:43 P.M.: There is one mic in the room, which is proving to make hearing difficult for some people in the room. Board member Steve Singer just asked a question without it and shouts of "Give him the mic" resounded in the room.

7:41 P.M.: Option C would represent the most dramatic increase in costs of between $1.4 million and and $1.45 million.

7:39 P.M.: Several Option Cs are being reviewed. At least one would involve adding a slate roof to the building, unlike alternate designs.

7:32 P.M.: The issue of bidding and the ultimate cost of the project is under discussion. Buttar has asked that the discussion move forward in the interest of time.

7:29 P.M.: Drew Raasch, director of preconstruction services with SM Wilson, said that while budget numbers would go up under all of the new options, those figures reflect the added cost of materials, not additional construction costs.

7:25 P.M.: John Mueller of Arcturis, which is working on the project, is explaining how the present design of the school would change under several options.

7:15 P.M.: Display boards are lined up in the back of the Wydown cafeteria for visitors to review. Four alternate design options are to be discussed.

7:10 P.M.: Board President Sonny Buttar is introducing the discussion and outlining how it will run.