ALTON — Instead of making repairs to a school that is more than 40 years old, is 94 students away from its design capacity and has mold and asbestos in some places, the Alton School Board plans to request $500,000 to start saving for a new elementary school serving students in kindergarten through Grade 8.

"It's a pretty drastic situation we're in at the school," said Cydney Johnson, chair of the school board, during a Capital Improvements Plan committee meeting Wednesday night.

Johnson, who also is a member of the committee, said that, as the school board looked at the problems that continue to plague Alton Central School, it agreed to request $25,000 to address current needs and take a chance in asking for the public's support to plan for a new school.

Prospect Mountain High School is in its second year of operation, with eight years left on its $19 million bond. However, unlike the high school, which took seven years to complete, Johnson said the school board wants to do this project correctly, and plan appropriately from the start.

The existing K-8 school has asbestos in some places and many code violations, she said, adding that the board felt the need to look at a new building instead of making $540,000 in repairs. It may evolve into just a middle school with grades 6, 7 and 8, but the school board prefers a full, K-8 school with plenty of space and room for expansion, said Johnson.

The middle school portion of the current facility was built in the late 1960s and it was in the mid-1970s when the elementary school wing was added.

"It's sort of archaic," Johnson said of the school, adding that, among other problems, is a shortage of outlets in the classrooms for computers. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but everyone knew it was coming," she said.

Current enrollment at the school for both elementary and middle school grades is 604 students, and the school's capacity is about 700. There also are a number of modular classrooms being used for fifth grade classrooms, fifth-grade Spanish, fifth- and sixth-grade special education classes, and for speech therapy.

"Everyone is being short-changed on that," Johnson said of using the modular classrooms.

The students have to leave the classroom and go into the school to use the bathroom or have lunch.

When school officials were doing the research for the high school, she said, they were told it would be possible to build a second floor on one section of the central school; however, it would create only another four classrooms.

Both stairs and elevator shaft are there for an addition, but Karl Ingoldsby, the building inspector and maintenance director, said he is urging the use of the elevator shaft as his office, which is only a slight upgrade from his old office, which was a storage closet.

"We've run out of room to put things," he said. "It's become not a pleasant working environment."

At its meeting Monday night, Johnson said, the school board voted to hire the New England School Development Council at a cost of about $9,900 — which will be coming out of the superintendent's budget — to look at the town's growth, its demographics and other statistics.

"I think it's well worth it," she said of the study. "It will get done by professionals."

The study is expected to take about three months and will be followed by at least two public hearings. A final report will have four options and Johnson said the representatives of the school development council would be willing to speak at the school's deliberative session.

For capital improvement projects this coming year, she said, school officials are requesting $25,000 to address a drainage issue by the second grade entryway and a remote fill upgrade for an underground oil storage tank. For 2005, the school board had included about $515,000 in capital improvement projects, such as refurbishing the restrooms, replacing windows and improving ventilation in a number of classrooms.

Despite efforts by the school board, none of the work was completed because the projects were too small for the contracting companies. All of the work was going to be paid for using interest from the money borrowed for the high school. Unexpended funds from the high school project are earmarked for special projects, said Johnson, noting that the school board would like to ask residents to move the money into a savings account for a new school.

Including the uncompleted projects, this year's capital improvement requests for the central school would total $540,327, but she said the school board is willing to let the other work go in order to head in the direction of building a new school.

"We'll forgo anything else if we could do the right thing," Johnson said. "It's going to be a tight budget, but we want the support of the town on the long-term project."

Speaking as a town resident, she said, she feels the site of the central school would be an ideal location for a combination fire and police safety building. Some parts of the building are solid, but it is not meeting the district's needs as a school.

Alton, she said is moving away from being a summer resort and retirement community to becoming a year-round community.

"People are moving here for the type of town it is. We should be very proud of that. But if we're going to bring them in, we need to be prepared."

One of the main draws to the community is the new high school, said Johnson, citing comments by real estate professionals.

Committee members supported the school board's position and applauded members for trying to think ahead.
 

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