Salem High Renovations

Disclaimer: My opinions, not necessarily the opinions of others.

Many people have said we should start Salem High renovations now.

It’s not a bad idea. Salem High is outdated, inadequate and in need of renovation. It’s not run-down, just old and inadequate. Salem High is like every other school in the Salem School District, except for the three elementary schools we renovated. Three schools are done, five more to go. If we have five schools to renovate, does it matter which schools we renovate first? Yes, it does. Renovating Salem High shouldn’t supersede renovating the three remaining elementary schools, and it doesn’t have to.

We have a master plan that was developed in 2008 as a way to bring all our schools up to present day needs for education and safety. The plan was given serious thought and developed by groups that were made up of parents,
staff, administrators, school board members and construction professionals.
While it’s reasonable that some aspects of the plan might need to change to
accommodate contemporary safety codes or enrollment trends, the sequence of the plan is important.

No detailed construction plans exist for a Salem High renovation. Concept drawings were presented to the public in 2007, but because funding for detailed construction plans failed to earn voter approval, detailed construction plans were never developed. Then, kindergarten became a state requirement and focus shifted to the elementary schools.

So where are we on Salem High? There are no plans suitable for a bond estimate or to start construction on Salem High. It’s been many years since the concept plans were developed, but those concept plans are a good starting point for developing detailed high school renovation plans. Since a majority of voters didn’t like the concept they saw in 2007, plans will need to be reviewed and revised.  Additionally, we are now faced with an issue that wasn’t a consideration earlier. We are now “next-in-line” for a State funded renovation of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center, formerly known as “the Voc”, at Salem High.

It will take at least two years for committees to review the existing concept design; merge it with proposed CTE renovations; develop a good plan and get funding for plans detailed enough to get accurate cost estimates for a bond vote. We should start that process now because the building is serving our high school students equally, but inadequately.

What we should not do is delay renovation of the three remaining elementary schools. We have six elementary schools in our district to educate our Kindergarten through Grade 5 students. It is, and should be, a fundamental principle that all our students should have educational opportunities and facilities as close to equal as we can reasonably make them. We have three renovated elementary schools that have adequate and appropriate educational space; that are safe, secure, and code compliant; and that provide dedicated space to deliver special education services.

We still have three elementary schools with inadequate spaces for special services; have outdated  electrical, plumbing, heating and ventilating systems; are less secure than they should and could be and do not conform to current safety or building codes. We are not serving all our elementary students equally. We are serving about half of them well and half of them inadequately. We are violating one of our key principles. Which half of our elementary school population would you want your child to be in?

We’ve started preliminary work on both projects by undertaking an enrollment projection study. Remember, most of Salem’s elementary students will become Salem High students, as the elementary enrollments go, so will the high school enrollments go. The enrollment projections will be important to have when we review plans for both the Phase 2 elementary renovations and Salem High renovations.

When the elementary renovations were designed, space was included for the nearly 1,800 elementary students that were in the district at the time. New classroom and instruction spaces were needed to get special needs programs
out of hallways and closets; to get students out of portable classrooms; and to
provide mandated kindergarten space. Remaining portable classrooms are now
costing us $40,000 per year (utilities not included). The Phase 2 elementary
school design plans are detailed enough to get accurate bond estimates and
construction can start three months after voter approval. We showed in the Phase
1 elementary renovations that the work can be completed on-time and within-budget.

There is no practical reason to postpone the Phase 2 elementary renovations. Completing the elementary schools won’t delay Salem High renovations. We can start the Salem High design plans and the Phase 2 elementary construction at the same time. If we review our high school building needs and develop a design concept this fall, we can approve design funding and start construction design plans in March of 2013. If, simultaneously, we approve a construction bond for Phase 2 elementary renovations, we can start in June of 2013.

Design documents suitable for Salem High bond cost estimates can be ready for the March, 2014 ballot and the Phase 2 renovations can be complete for an August, 2014 opening. We can provide equal opportunities at all our elementary schools and provide adequate high school facilities in the shortest time possible.

If we choose to proceed this way, we will have seven of our eight schools, all elementary schools and Salem High, renovated with up-to-date educational and safety code compliant spaces. Then, we can move on to Woodbury School. It’s the most efficient and reasonable way to meet our goal of providing adequate educational spaces for all our students, Kindergarten through Grade 12.

Please forward comments or questions to pmorgan@sau57.org