Growth prompts PCM schools to move forward on renovation, expansion

MONROE — After more than a year of deliberating, the Prairie City-Monroe School Board accepted the district facilities committee’s recommendation in January for a multi-year, $20 million facilities master plan to upgrade school buildings’ infrastructure.

The board also gave approval to the expansion and renovation project Feb. 23 in a 7-0 vote.

Retiring Prairie City Elementary School Principal Mary Poulter walked into a tiny classroom with miniature tables and chairs low to the ground in August. This was the school’s former computer lab, now transformed into a third kindergarten classroom. PC Elementary had 56 kindergartners enrolled in the 2014-15 school year – too many for only two classrooms, Poulter said.

“So, we’re squished in here. We’re going to limit this room to 15 (students) because it’s full,” she said.

Walking over to the library, she told the same story of overcrowding. The computer lab has been jockeyed into the small library. To find a quiet space for one-on-one work, Poulter said some teachers have been forced to sit between the room’s double doors.

PC Elementary has a total of 256 students in kindergarten through fifth grades this year. Poulter said there was a time when they hoped for 200 students. The problem is district-wide.

Presented at a special board meeting Jan. 21, the final facilities plan focuses on classroom expansion to accommodate current and future overcrowding.

The master plan also addresses electrical, safety/security and heating/ventilation/air conditioning needs of all four district educational facilities and the bus barn.

PCM operations director Jeff Shannon coordinated the facilities team consisting of teachers and Prairie City and Monroe residents. He said the project’s slated for construction between 2015 and 2017. Phase I was presented at the meeting with the proposal showing future projects which the district took into consideration when drafting the placement of building additions and renovations.

Chris Degroot, architect for Iowa City-based Neumanm Monson, helped draft the initial design. During the Jan. 21 meeting he said he feels the extra planning is evident in the final master plan. The board has yet to dedicate funding sources for each project listed in the multi-year project but announced voters would be asked to approve a general obligation bond and extend district PPEL funding during school board elections on September’s ballot.

“It’s taken us a year. I think it’s a lot longer than anybody planned on when we started the process. But the extra time that we took, and addressing the issues that we did throughout the planning process, helped us to get to a better plan — a plan the community can accept,” he said. “This plan not only provides a framework for the immediate improvements that can be done in the educational facilities, but it ensures that long term infrastructure needs can be met.”

The plan provides a path to funding for 50 of the original 129 priorities designated by the facilities team last year. Designers would like to start on the high school renovations as soon as possible to prepare for what Shannon is calling a “bubble” of students from the elementary and middle schools soon to enter ninth grade.

The team has proposed paying for $9.96 million in classroom additions and renovations with a general obligation bond. This funding source includes a $2.13 million music room renovation, classroom addition and existing stage renovation at the high school.

The middle school in Prairie City will received an auditorium renovation including HVAC, lighting/power and audio visual overhaul totaling $1.5 million. PCM Middle School will also see a classroom addition and office relocation totaling $2.24 million.

Prairie City Elementary School’s $1.77 million classroom changes will add a classroom and relocate the main office to align with the middle school’s office for better monitoring and visibility of visitor access.

Monroe Elementary’s $2.3 million classroom work will see a building addition plus renovation of an existing classroom and add secure entry for the main office.

Sales tax bonds are proposed to pay for more than $7.84 million in HVAC, electrical and safety/security projects at all four schools. The committee suggests using cash on hand to pay for $2.48 million in additional parking, lighting and roof repair projects among the PCM campuses.

Matt Gillespie, investment management representative from Piper Jaffray, gave a financial presentation to the board Jan. 21, showing the members the maximum about of debt the district could take on. He said PCM currently has no outstanding debt which allows the district to use a mixture of GO bonds, sales tax bonds or use Physical Plant Equipment Levy funds and cash on hand.

The GO bond will require a 60 percent vote at the local polls to pass. The project time lines presented Jan. 21 range in start date between May and September 2015. To get the bond issue passed and have the funds available for construction, Gillespie said the board might have to be flexible with the construction start. He said it could be difficult to get the GO bond on the ballot before fall.

The board has scheduled a special work session Feb. 2 at the PCM High School library to discuss, and potentially begin the approval process, of the master plan.

The most recent proposal came after a spirited public debate on the first two options presented by the committee in 2014, which would have reorganized the district, moving students to put all like grade levels under one roof. The new plan leaves the K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grades in their current buildings.

The facilities plan is largely based on an 8.2 percent expected enrollment increase in the PCM School District by 2020. The school board and district administrators commissioned Iowa School Finance Information Services in 2014, to conduct a survey which showed the expected enrollment boost from 1,087 existing enrollment to a projected 1,177 student enrollment in five years.

District Business Manger Tami Thomas told board members that PCM’s certified enrollment dropped by 17.24 students for the upcoming school year. Thomas said approximately 15 of the students lost were already open enrolling out of the PCM district, and students served within PCM schools only declined by roughly two children.

But district schools are still past capacity. PCM reports the high school is currently the most overcrowded building, utilizing two temporary mobile classrooms. By 2020, the district expects the high school to be four to five classrooms short without the additions.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@myprairiecitynews.com