Published: January 07, 2009 12:03 am         

Vigo schools facilities meeting on Thursday

TERRE HAUTE — On Thursday, the public again will have an opportunity to hear information and provide feedback on a Vigo County School Corp. facilities planning process now under way.

The community forum will be conducted at 6 p.m. in Terre Haute South Vigo High School. Schmidt Associates, an Indianapolis architectural/engineering firm, will present the information.

Citizens are encouraged to attend, said Debra Kunce, Schmidt Associates program manager. At the end of the informational session, members of the public can ask questions and make comments.

The forum will be interactive, and those attending will be able to participate in electronic surveys and weigh in on information that’s presented.

Those attending also will be brought up to speed on the facilities planning process, including information on the state of current facilities, community demographics and various options that look at redistricting, possible school closings and school renovations.

In March, the School Board hired Schmidt Associates to develop a 10-year facility plan for the school district.

A community task force also has been meeting and is expected to provide some recommendations to the School Board early this year.

At its last meeting, the task force began looking at some exploratory facility options that included redistricting and school closings.

The options, presented as a starting point for discussion purposes, were as follows:

n Option A — suggested no renovations, but it did call for extensive redistricting of schools under- and overutilized.

n Option S — suggested closing buildings with the lowest building assessment scores that also are underutilized. It also called for renovation of buildings with an assessment score lower than 75.

That option suggested closing three schools (West Vigo Elementary, Chauncey Rose Middle School and Booker T. Washington High School) and closing the administration building, which would have to be relocated. The administration building is overcapacity and “bursting at the seams,” Kunce has said.

Option S also called for building renovations of those schools with the greatest needs. Phase 1 renovation would include Terre Haute North and South Vigo high schools (Year 1); McLean High School, Woodrow Wilson Middle school (expanding on prior work) and West Vigo Middle School.

Phase II under Option S would call for renovation of Farrington Grove, Ouabache, Sugar Grove, DeVaney, Davis Park and Terre Town (expanding on prior work) elementaries; West Vigo High School; and Otter Creek Middle school.

Option S also called for a minimum redistricting of DeVaney Elementary and those schools that were closed.

The cost for Phase 1 renovation work was estimated at $115 million and Phase II at $70 million. Schmidt Associates did not include relocation of the administration building in this cost estimate.

The estimated maximum monthly tax impact on a home valued at $100,000 was $20.44.

Option Z called for renovation of buildings in greatest need of facility/infrastructure upgrades (those scoring under 75). It also called for maintaining neighborhood schools.

No school would be closed, and only DeVaney would be redistricted.

Facilities to be renovated would be Terre Haute North and South Vigo high schools (first year); McLean High School; West Vigo Elementary; Booker T. Washington; Farrington Grove; Ouabache; West Vigo High School; Sugar Grove; Terre Town; (expanding on prior work) Woodrow Wilson Middle School (expanding on prior work); West Vigo Middle School; Chauncey Rose Middle School; administration building; DeVaney; Otter Creek Middle School and Davis Park Elementary.

Phase 1 of Option Z costs would be $124 million and Phase II costs $68 million. The maximum estimated monthly tax impact on a home valued at $100,000 would be $21.28.

Kunce estimated that the cost to renovate North and South would be $34 million each, while the cost to build new would be at least $95 million each.

“I don’t think you need to replace North or South,” she said previously. “They’re not at the point where they need to be replaced.”

The task force will meet again at 5 p.m. Monday in the administration building, 686 Wabash Ave. It also is slated to meet Jan. 26.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.