JH board continues to talk building addition options

The Jackson Heights USD 335 Board of Education on Monday evening continued to discuss a plan to build a new classroom addition that would link the district’s ele­mentary and high school buildings, but tabled action on setting that plan into motion after some board mem­bers expressed concerns that a pro­posed $5 million bond issue for that construction may not get the approval of district voters.

Architect David Heit of Civium Architecture and Planning of Tope­ka met with board members to discuss a possible plan for build­ing a new classroom addition that would handle about 100 additional students.

District Superintendent Jim Howard reminded board members that the first likely step of a “sys­tematic” plan for the addition was already in place with estimates for square footage, construction costs and a potential bond issue for con­struction of the addition. But board member Kallie Kirk’s motion to proceed with a plan as suggested by Heit died for lack of a second, and the matter was tabled until Oc­tober.

“I want to present a bond issue that we can pass,” Board President David Allen said, suggesting that new district patrons from the Wet­more area who were recently added into the district may not be amenable to a bond issue so quick­ly after the closure of Wetmore At­tendance Center.

Draft plans for the addition, as board members noted in August, would cover about 17,000 square feet and include a common “li­brary” space, new classrooms allowing fifth and sixth-grade classes to move out of the existing elementary building — allowing kindergarten through fourth grades to have three classrooms per grade — and new art and mu­sic spaces, as well as a possible remodel of elementary classroom space for a new office near the building’s main entrance.

Heit suggested that Civium’s plan for getting the addition built included assisting the district with preliminary design work and “vali­dating that the plan you’ve come up with makes sense” to district patrons, then developing “a good floor plan” for the addition that would, among other things, cover a “six-foot vertical difference” be­tween the floors in the elementary and high school buildings.

Another important aspect of de­veloping a plan for the addition, Heit said, is making sure that dis­trict patrons have a say in what goes into the addition, and Howard noted that five “town hall” meet­ings — one for each of the five towns in the district, including Cir­cleville, Netawaka, Soldier, Wet­more and Whiting — would likely be scheduled to get public input.

Representatives of the U.S. Corps of Engineers and the Kansas De­partment of Health and Environ­ment met with the board to discuss whether some wells dug on district grounds should be plugged to ac­commodate the addition’s construction and if new wells would be drilled to replace plugged wells.

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