Grassroots effort key to new Garnett school

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August 22, 2014 - 12:00 AM

GARNETT — A well-heeled grassroots effort — fueled by the realization their old school had become an aging, inaccessible energy hog — led to overwhelming support of a new school here less than four years ago.
Don Blome, USD 365 superintendent of schools, spoke to a visitor this week about the $12 million construction project, leading to the 2012 grand opening of Garnett Elementary School.
The school has garnered plenty of attention locally as Iola and USD 257 voters prepare to go to the polls in November to decide on a $50 million project to fund construction of new elementary and high schools on the north edge of Iola.
While he couldn’t comment about the state of USD 257’s facilities, the Garnett project became an easy sell, Blome said. Voters there realized the growing list of issues facing the old elementary school complex, consisting of the old Garnett Elementary School (for kids in grades 2 through 6) and Irving Elementary, for kindergartners and first-graders.
The biggest issue was that neither of the buildings was ADA compliant. The three-story elementary school, in fact, had been the subject of a complaint because of restrictions facing a student with special needs.
In addition, neither building had a centralized air-conditioning system, relying instead on separate air conditioners for each room, Blome said. And the old boiler system used to heat the buildings was increasingly inefficient, to the point the district spent more than $30,000 on natural gas the final year it was open.
“People realized we needed to do something” Blome said.
The bond issue became an even easier sell when one architect estimated it would cost more to renovate the old buildings ($15 million) than to build new ($12 million).
And, because a 20-year-old general obligation bond used to fund construction of the new Anderson County High School in the early 1990s went off the financial books that same year, the net result for local taxpayers was negligible.
“The taxpayers’ bills went up 1 mill,” Blome said.
Actually, the levy went up 9 mills, but that was nullified by the 8-mill drop for the expiring high school bonds.
There’s more. The district took advantage of state aid for school construction, which paid for 28 percent of the project’s costs.
Meanwhile, USD 365 also took advantage of “Build America” bonds, made available in the 2010  stimulus, in response to the Great Recession that ravaged the country. Thus, those bonds are being retired at zero-percent interest.
“They’ll be paid off in 19 years, actually,” Blome said.
Mother Nature played a hand in construction progressing almost unabated.
Construction began in July 2011, at the start of what became more than a year of almost continuous warm, dry weather, even through the winter months.
Work was finished well in advance of the 2012-13 school year.

BLOME SAID public support was perhaps the most vital to ensuring the bond issue would pass.
Two local businessmen took the reins of the bond campaign and spearheaded a series of public meetings to disseminate information to the district’s voters. Architects from Hollis and Miller and financial advisers also were a part.
“I spoke very little,” said Blome, who was hired as district administrator one year earlier.
 As an aside, Hollis and Miller is the same firm hired by USD 257 to oversee the bond issue and potential construction project.
While much of the meetings dealt with distributing information, the public, in turn, provided a key piece of feedback.
“The one thing the public said it wanted, repeatedly, was slanted roofs,” Blome said. “They did not want a flat roof because those are ones more prone to leaks.”
Other than that, the district had one edict — no frills.
“We were very conservative with what we planned for because of the cost to the taxpayers,” Blome said. “We even came in $120,000 under budget.”
Still, the 68,000-square-foot building features plenty of accommodations for the students’ educational needs of today and the future.
The building itself is divided into two zones, separated by a short link, with the north side dedicated to classrooms, and the south side featuring the gymnasium, commons area, school library and climate control area.
In the middle is the school offices, where Principal Krista Hedrick can look out her office and see from one end of the building to the other.
The academic side is divided into three pods, each featuring its own set of classrooms around an indoor activity center for multi-class projects. Each room features state-of-the-art projection systems and docking stations for teachers to plug in their laptop computers, making it easier to continue classroom discussions elsewhere if necessary. Each pod also has an outdoor classroom area.
Unseen to visitors, the classrooms have lowered ceilings, conceiling a labyrinth of
A special feature in the classroom area is its reinforced concrete walls and roof, making it a large storm shelter, designed to withstand winds of up to 170 mph. “The architects told me that’s a conservative number,” Blome said. “They think it can stand 200 mph winds.”
The building’s exterior features a series of parking areas and driveways designed to safely and efficiently shuttle traffic to and from the school, with general traffic kept separate from the school buses. And like the proposed USD 257 site, the school is just north of Garnett’s city limits, situated yards from the Prairie Spirit Trail, where several students walk back and forth to school.
“The community is happy with our new school,” Blome said. “We weren’t looking to build a Taj Mahal. We have a nice, functional building.”
Oh, and the first year’s cost for natural gas in the new elementary school? $7,000.

ULTIMATELY, USD 365 officials decided to raze the Irving facility after a buyer couldn’t be found, and removed much of the Garnett Elementary building. Four classrooms and the school’s Ray Meyer Gymnasium were kept for USD 365 district offices and a community center.
A similar plan would be in store for USD 257 if the bond issues pass, Superintendent of Schools Jack Koehn said last week. If the old school buildings are not sold, they would be razed. The high school gymnasium and commons area would be kept as a community center. All of the elementary playgrounds would be kept and converted to parks, if city officials so desired.

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