Village and Lowther projects on hold
Student population remains in limbo
By Bobbi Mlynar
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The Emporia board of education took steps Wednesday evening to protect district finances and staff to the extent it can while Tyson workers make decisions about whether their children will be returning to district schools in August.
Tyson Foods’ decision to close much of its Tyson Fresh Meats operation in Emporia put the educational fate of approximately 1,200 students here in limbo.
Superintendent John Heim presented an updated report to the board on information he has received regarding potential effects of the partial shutdown, and began with good news.
“We now have a bill in play in both the Senate and the House,” Heim said, noting that he had been notified Wednesday that a bill that would provide some financial relief for the local district for one year had been approved by the Kansas Senate’s education committee. The education committee in the Kansas House had approved the same bill about two weeks ago. Sen. Jim Barnett and Rep. Don Hill have worked to get the bills passed. The session ends on April 8.
Heim said that during parent-teacher conferences this month, teachers had asked Tyson parents about their plans. Approximately 1,200 students in the Emporia school district are children of Tyson workers.
“Most of the answers that we got were, ‘We just don’t know yet,’ so it’s really hard to make a judgment,” Heim said.
The breakdown was as follows: 155 parents reported their student(s) would not be in Emporia next year; 550 parents were unsure and most planned to decide during the summer.
“That leaves about 150 (students) unaccounted for. It’s really kind of a shot in the dark at this point. … We don’t have a solid answer on what we’re going to do.”
He estimated that 20 to 30 students already have left the district.
Tyson officials have told Heim that at the end of the week, they should be able to provide names of people they will transfer out of Emporia, as well as names of some they know will be stay here.
On April 2, school district administrators will meet to discuss what certified positions must be filled and to prioritize their schools’ needs. A hiring freeze is in place and April 1 is the new deadline for retirement and resignations.
The Emporia National Education Association voted earlier this month to change the master contract to help the district try to cope with the aftermath of Tyson’s downsizing, and the board approved the change Wednesday evening.
The inducement to early retirement at the end of this school year was enhanced from $250 to $1,000 for notice given by April 1, 2008. Under the original master contract, only teachers who committed to early retirement by Oct. 1 would receive $1,000. The incentive dropped the first of each month until it reached $250 on Jan. 1, 2008. Teachers who retired after Jan. 1, under the original contract, did not receive an incentive. The change approved Wednesday is effective only for this school year.
Heim said that some teachers and classified staff may be transferred to other schools due to fluctuations in student populations throughout the district.
Teacher and student transfers will be approved temporarily through the district office, rather than by building principals.
“We wanted to control that a little more because of the unknown and uncertainty across the district,” he said.
Cutbacks in spending to gain better reserves going into the next year also will be considered, he said. He cutbacks may include items such as out-of-state travel, conference attendance and other expenses.
“We know a little more than we did two weeks ago,” he said. “I think in two weeks we’ll know a little more than we do now."
Some capital-outlay projects that earlier had been approved and were to be let for bid have been deferred and will be discussed again in the fall. Superintendent John Heim said that it would be important to ensure that contractors who already have been asked to bid on other and upcoming projects be reassured that the board has made commitments to carry through on them. Otherwise, Heim said, contractors would be apprehensive about bidding and bids that did come in might not be advantageous to the district.
Susan Hernandez, associate superintendent of finance for the district, told the board that the capital improvement committee had met to discuss projects that were to have been let for bids Wednesday evening.
The committee, she said, could not come to an agreement on whether to continue with a planned addition at Village School and aesthetic improvements that are part of an ongoing renovation project at Lowther South Intermediate School.
Village Principal Wendy Moore talked with Hernandez regarding concerns about not following through with the addition now because the school already is overcrowded and several programs are operating in spaces that are inadequate, Hernandez said. New programs are under consideration, including a dual language program.
“I do think the biggest concern is not knowing for sure the impact of the Tyson layoffs,” Hernandez said.
“We do have funds in the capital outlay fund to support all of the capital outlay projects that you approved,” Hernandez said. “… We can’t take money from that fund once it’s there and put it into any other fund. So those dollars are there, and are there to fund projects that the board feels are important, based on our recommendations. The Tyson layoffs aren’t really going to affect that fund that much.”
Variances in the fund would be slight, she said.
Hernandez recommended the board continue with the HVAC portion of the Village project, to replace the heating and air condition system that has been used since the school opened.
Hernandez also recommended against continuing with the LSIS renovation. The project included tearing off carpet from walls and painting them and replacing old carpet on the floors. Curt Lampher, who is in charge of district maintenance, said that he had brought in a specialist to check the carpet for mold or health issues and that they were not hazardous to students.
The cost of the addition and improvements at Village are expected to rise if delayed, she said.
“There will be likely still cramped conditions at Village, and are we willing to live with that another year possibly … until we get a handle on it?” Hernandez asked. “I’m not convinced that we don’t need one, but my recommendation to wait is still my recommendation because I don’t think we know enough yet.”
Heim suggested the board continue with the HVAC replacement and postpone Village and LSIS projects, with the stipulation that members will reconsider the issue in the fall, after enrollment is set.
Board member Angie Schreiber suggested that the board review enrollments figures at all of the schools at that time.
“Because we could lose a ton of students at William Allen White and if that building is only, let’s say 40 percent full, maybe what we need to do – h eavy forbid, don’t crucify me – maybe we need to review the districts and shift some students from these overcrowded schools,” Schreiber said. “I want to look at every building before we start adding to a building.”
Mike Helbert told fellow board members that “we may be hopelessly optimistic.”
“There’s going to be a spinoff effect,” Helbert said. “For every five jobs lost at Tyson, there’s going to be another one lost in the community. I think at this point the responsible thing to do is to make sure the HVAC is done.”
If expansion is needed later, he said, it can be done and the HVAC already would be available for the additional space.
The board voted unanimously go ahead with bidding the HVAC and to postpone projects at Village and LSIS.
Hernandez also reported to the board on capital improvement projects already underway, and made recommendations on plans that should be continued.
The board will take action on these recommendations at a later meeting:
-- Logan Avenue: continue renovation of the newer addition and upgrade the HVAC system at an estimated cost of $260,000.
-- Emporia High School: continue renovation of electrical and mechanical issues in the Family and Consumer Sciences department at an estimated cost of $350,000.
-- EHS Pool: continue repairs on swim pool at an estimated cost of $56,000.
-- EHS transformer: School was dismissed in the fall because of a critical situation with a transformer that has been fixed temporarily. The project, estimated to cost $132,000, needs to be completed for safety reasons and to ensure school is not interrupted in the future.
-- Emporia Middle School fire alarm system: system has malfunctioned several times earlier in the year. Initial estimated cost was $50,000; however, an independent firm has estimated the cost is $130,000. The project will be presented to the board in March for approval to let bids.