LRFPC still at crossroads

On the heels of a public hearing where many residents said they’d prefer to see the K-8 Alton Central School (ACS) stay in the village rather than a new building constructed at a new location, the members of the school district’s Long Range Facility Planning Committee (LRFPC) are still conflicted about the right direction to take.

School Board member Lynda Goossens, who serves on the large volunteer committee with Board Chairman Cydney Johnson, architect Chip Krause, Buildings and Grounds Director Karl Ingoldsby — as well as a variety of school officials, staff members and others — said the committee still does not seem united around the idea of either renovating the old school or building a new one.

“That is still the big issue, whether it (ACS) needs to stay where it is now and whether we try and stay with it as where it is now (with major renovations). There’s a lot of sentiment in keep the school in the center of town. So what we have to figure out is, is there anyway to do that? Everybody likes the school where it is now. But obviously it’s not up to 21st century (educational) standards,” she said.

The original ACS was built in the village, not far from town hall and the Gilman Library, back in the 1950s. Since then several additions have been put on to accommodate a growing student population that is now a little more than 600. Some estimates have the student population growing at an annual rate of 2.5-percent over the next 10 years, which would bring the size to about 800.

Architect Krause said that that kind of growth would require “more than nine classrooms” in the next decade,” according to the minutes of the meeting.

But experts say the old building still has numerous educational shortcoming including improperly sized classrooms, poor air quality, electrical problems that make using modern equipment difficult, and heating problems.

Earlier this year, a consulting organization hired by the Alton School Board suggested several ways of dealing with the problems, from building a new $15 million K-8 school at a new location to making gradual improvements to ACS as funds become available. And several weeks ago, Goossens said the committee seemed to be “leaning” towards the idea of building a new school.

But a public hearing earlier this month indicated that there was still strong feelings for making renovations to the current ACS structure and keeping it where it is.

According to unapproved minutes from last week’s LRFPC meeting, the members are concerned that there may not be enough room on the 11-acre school campus to accommodate the student population, which is growing in the lower grades. “Architect Krause stated that the minimum lot size for a school of 800 students, K-8 grades, should be 15.5-acres and the maximum should be 23 acres,” the minutes read. “C. Krause stated it was his understanding from the last public forum that the public wanted a cost estimate for building a new school and that he felt an estimate should be supplied by the committee at the future meeting."

But other committee members said it would not be difficult to get a waiver on the state Department of Education's campus-size “requirements,” particularly if there are other physical educational options available in town. In Alton, that would include the “little Fenway” baseball/soccer fields located about one-mile from ACS. State campus-size standards must be met in order to qualify for school building aid and they are largely driven by an assumption that all athletic fields and parking lots (for faculty and high school students) will be on campus.

The minutes report that the Alton tax assessor told one committee member that there were two 200-acres sections of town-owned land and the member suggested that the group ask the state if it would be willing to donate about 30-acres for a new school. The minutes also state that the McGrath family, who owned McGrath’s Food Market near ACS for years have not yet been contacted about selling several adjacent empty acres to the school district.

Goossens said the town owns some land the committee could consider for a new school but it may also have to purchase some close to the building, “It’s expensive to buy all the land,” she said. “So we could go for some kind of fixing it (the building) here and there, and I can’t know how long something like that would last.”

One idea that has frustrated Goossens and some other committee members is the thought some residents seem to have that even though the school paid for about half the cost of constructing the $19.2-million Prospect Mountain High School (PMHS) it shares with Barnstead, somehow the School Board — or the original PMHS building committee — indicated that the new high school would take care of problems at ACS simply by removing the high school students from the aged building.

“On many different occasions, the School Board said we’re not going to solve the problems at Alton Central School with the (new) high school,” Goossens. “Not in any way, shape or form was Prospect Maintain ever going to solve the problems at Alton Central School. But it’s hard to understand that. People don’t want to see their taxes go up, I understand that. It’s a difficult decision to make.”

But there could be one consultation for Goossens and other taxpayers. “I don’t remember our taxes going up that much for the high school. I think it went up 90.3-cents because the price of a bond was very good at that time and we were able to get a very good rate. I think it added only a 90.3-cents increase because the price of bonding. The interest rates were very good so we were able to get 10 years instead of 15 years. Plus our tax base got bigger.

“With all the consternation going on now the same thing may happen again,” she added. “But people want to know what their tax bill is going to be, they want to know exactly how much it’s going to cost them.”

It may not be possible to have an exact figure but an estimate will be offered at the next public meeting coming up early in December. The meeting will also review the original consultants’ suggestions and indicate the ones the committee is focusing on.

Another issue discussed at last week’s meeting according to the minutes was a poll taken of residents outlining several options for the new school. Chairman Marilyn Dame said that over 1,106 surveys were given out at the Election Day polls and 739 surveys — about 67-percent — of those were returned. Another 625 surveys were sent home with the ACS students and 125 surveys, or 20-percent came back. At the night of the public hearing, 47 surveys given out and all were returned.

Some respondents apparently complained to the committee members that the surveys were unclear but Dame said she was still encouraged by the level of response from the town. At the public hearing, the survey results will be announced.

At the last School Board meeting, the board members voted to lengthen the charge of the LRFPC to have it continue to explore options about needed space for ACS students.