By Karen Blackledge
DANVILLE — The new consolidated Danville primary center will eliminate neighborhood schools and parent-led participation, a former school director said during Wednesday night’s public hearing on the plan.
“Walkable neighborhood schools are necessary for vibrant communities,” said Kellie Krum, whose resignation from the board will be considered at the Nov. 10 meeting. Her term expires in December.
Krum said the site for the school could be changed from adjacent to the high school to the Riverside Elementary School, adding the Riverside land will surely be needed by the district.
She predicted the primary center, housing pre-kindergarten through second grades, would eventually become a middle school.
Krum, of Riverside, said 75 percent of children attending the new school would have more than a one-hour bus ride to and from school.
And the project will limit future renovations at the high school, she said.
Twelve people, including administrators and newly elected board member Marty Walzer, attended the hearing in the high school.
School officials said no tax increase will be required to fund the project, which will result in the closing of Danville, Riverside and Mahoning-Cooper elementaries.
Krum and Lynn Breyfogle, of Riverside, questioned speakers at the hearing, which was required by the state. The school has a maximum project cost of $26.2 million and a maximum building construction cost of $19.4 million, or the amount the state Education Department considers reimbursable.
Breyfogle said if one principal can handle the Liberty-Valley Intermediate School of 550 third- through fifth-graders, then one principal should be able to supervise the new school’s expected 600 students.
Superintendent Susan Bickford said staff at Liberty-Valley assist if the principal is out of the building. An assistant principal could serve both Liberty-Valley and the new school on a half-time capacity, she said.
District Business Administrator Richard Snodgrass said a principal and an assistant principal are proposed for the new school with an assistant paid $20,000 less than a principal. That decision would be up to the board, he said.
Breyfogle asked about traffic patterns for the new school. Architect Richard Witt said a new access would be created off Hospital Drive for the primary center, with a drop-off for pre-kindergarten, buses going to the front of the building and a drop-off behind the school for parents. The high school would have a separate and new access road. Starting and dismissal times would be different for the two schools.
John Bickhart, principal of the new primary center, said the existing elementary schools were built in the late 1950s to mid-1960s. A portion of Mahoning-Cooper was built in the 1920s. Additions, modular classrooms and system upgrades were done until 1989, but no significant upgrades have been done since then, he said.
Snodgrass said operational savings at the new center are expected to be $471,200 a year. This includes a decrease in the teaching staff to save $202,300 a year, reducing non-instructional staff with an annual savings of $239,500, no additional buses needed and costs for maintenance, repairs and utilities decreasing by $29,400 a year.
The new school will be two stories and in the vicinity of the existing high school baseball field. It will have two classroom wings, each with its own educational corridors. Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten will be on the first floor, and first and second grades will be on the second floor, Witt said.
No tax increase is required for the project because the district used wrap-around debt service to minimize millage impact as older debt was paid off, Snodgrass said. “The mills that were used to pay the debt will be used to pay the new debt,” he said.
The district issued general obligation bonds totaling $15 million in 2007 and variable rate demand revenue bonds totaling $7 million to fund the school.
The 2009 variable rate bonds were swapped to fixed rate to take advantage of low fixed interest rates. The district received reimbursement on the net debt service payments, including the swap cash flows, said financial consultant Gregg McLanahan.
The district will wait until construction bids are received before issuing the final bonds, projected to total $3.3 million.
The district used insurance on the 2007 bonds and a letter of credit on the 2009 bonds to increase its credit rating and marketability. The cost of the insurance increased the size of the bond issue but reduced the interest rate the district pays on the bonds, resulting in lower debt service, he said.
The state will reimburse the district for a portion of the principal and interest paid each year on the bonds. The amount is determined by the percentage of the project determined by the Education Department to be reimbursable and the district’s capital account reimbursement fraction.
McLanahan anticipates the reimbursable percentage will be 7.56, meaning for each dollar paid by the district toward principal and interest, the state will reimburse it 7.56 cents.
The public can submit written comments about the project to Bickford’s office until Dec. 4.
