The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by David Grimes - Quill Correspondent
BIGGSVILLE - The West Central School Board formally approved a building usage plan Wednesday that will include facilities at Stronghurst, Media and Biggsville at least through the new district's inaugural year of 2005-06.
The plan calls for West Central High School students and kindergarten through fifth-grade students to attend classes at Union schools at rural Biggsville, junior high students to attend classes at the Southern elementary school and portions of the old high school at Stronghurst, and preschool and special education classes to be conducted at the current Southern junior high facility at Media.
But before formal action was taken by the board, some opposing views were aired during the public comment of Wednesday's board meeting.
Doug Sams, Union School Board president and a member of the now disbanded Committee of 10, reminded the board that the committee helped sell the public on the idea of voting for consolidation of the two Henderson County school districts over the past two years.
Part of the sales pitch was that the committee would recommend closing the Media facility as part of a savings of economy for the new district.
Annual savings from the closing would amount to $100,000.
Sams wondered what the new school board was thinking reversing the committee's recommendation.
"If you keep it (Media) open, that's a lot of money that could be saved by keeping those programs in Biggsville and Stronghurst," he said.
Board president Lonnie Brent, also a former member of the Committee of 10, told Sams the board had gathered new information on the several school sites since voters passed the consolidation measure at the polls in November.
In particular, light had been shed on concerns at the old Stronghurst high school building with particular concerns premised on the need for handicap access areas and life safety issues that would be needed to bring the aging edifice up to code.
Closing off the upper level of the high school building and two outbuildings previously used for classes at the Stronghurst campus represents a loss of seven classroom spaces, Brent said.
Additionally, four classrooms in the elementary building at Stronghurst have been found to have ventilation problems, Southern school architect Bill Phillips, Canton, said earlier this week.
But former Southern School Board member Barry Bigger begged to differ with the West Central board Wednesday on the building usage plan.
"Close Media," Bigger told the West Central board. "I live at Media, and I'm asking you to close it."
Bigger also questioned the claim that building improvements would be imminent should the high school at Stronghurst be used, saying he had called state officials at Springfield who told him consolidation with another school district would not necessarily require immediate life safety renovations.
Before formal action was taken by the board, Superintendent Ralph Grimm said whatever the board's decision, it should reflect a concern for the long-term financial integrity of the district.
"Right or wrong, we need to make a decision tonight," Grimm said.
Board members later voted to approve the building usage plan as it was presented, and after that voted to employ Phillips as architect for the district.
Grimm said he believed the hiring of Phillips as district architect was a good choice because Phillips already is familiar with the facilities at Southern and has a good idea of what is in the best interest for the new district.
Hiring a new face for the job, Grimm said, would cause the board to "lose valuable time in bringing them up to speed.
"I'd like to call him (Phillips) tomorrow (to inform him of the decision)," Grimm said.