Letter sent to patrons advising of facility needs
The Giltner Public School Board sent a letter to patrons and community residents last week announcing plans to “explore potential updates” to the district’s facilities, beginning with hiring an architect to launch the planning process.
“The board of education would like to share some exciting news for the future of the school district,” the letter began. “GPS has continued to grow, which is a positive sign for the future of our district, but with growth comes logistical challenges. To ensure our district continues to provide the best experience or our students and staff, the board of education would like to thank you for the support you have shown in the past, and ask for your continued support as we plan for the future.”
Board members have been exploring potential facility expansion on the existing campus for the past three years, the letter noted, with the conversation now progressing to a point where public awareness and feedback will be sought in an effort to be totally transparent, according to Supt. Nick Mumm.
“The master plan was discussed and approved at our board retreat,” Mumm said of a special June 28 meeting. “Basically the master plan is that the company will start the process of drawings. As ideas come in they’re going to be meeting with the maintenance committee, the board, the community and the staff, so they’re going to be with everybody and we’re going to be very strategic about it.”
The board considered proposals from two architectural firms, voting last week to select and hire Kearney-based Wilkins Architecture Design Planning, LLC, for the job, with Jacob Sertich named as the lead architect. The letter explained that the firm will be paid $8,000 for the planning process, with no additional money committed “until the shovel moves the dirt.”
“I will say that the feedback at the board retreat is that it’s not really a five-year plan,” Mumm added. “It’s more of a one- or two-year plan. I think they made that pretty clear that this isn’t something we want to lose sight of or something that doesn’t happen anytime soon. I do think it will be a little bit more of an aggressive time schedule than not.”
Motivating factors
Asked what factors might be motivating the board to take a hard look at expanding school facilities, Mumm listed two main concerns.
“The first thing is the enrollment, but the second thing is just to continue to improve your facilities and make sure that they’re the best they can be for any kid that attends Giltner for their education.”
Mumm reported that enrollment numbers tend to fluctuate from year to year, though a definite surge is expected at the lower grade levels in the next few years.
“Our first and second grade classes this year will be over 20,” he said. “Kindergarten is going to be in the teens this year, but then in two years our kindergarten class is expected to be around 25 … So we see the number growing and that doesn’t seem to be stopping necessarily any time soon.
“The other thing is just, in order to stay focused on what’s best for kids and the education of kids and the opportunities for kids, not only for the kids that are here but the kids that will be here at some point someday, I think you always have to continue to grow and be progressive,” he continued. “We’re just strapped for space the way it is.”
Mumm cited the need for and addition of a new ag classroom as an example of how the existing facilities are beginning to limit any potential growth.
“We had to go to our bus barn and take the north side of our bus barn to create an ag classroom,” he said. “That’s not the ideal thing as it takes space from our bus barn, but we had to do what we had to do to make it happen. So classrooms I know are going to be the biggest look so our kids have the adequate space they need to be educated and so teachers can teach and such. That’s going to be the first thing. There are going to be all kinds of ideas, and I don’t necessarily even have all those ideas that are going to come out.”
As to where facilities might be added on the existing campus, Mumm said there is space available to the north and west of the gymnasium which was part of a 1981 construction project which included the gym, high school classrooms and offices.
“If you go out the west door of our high school gym, all the way to the west all along our building there, all the way down along the elementary all the way to the parking lot will be where I would say 90 percent of the expansion could be,” he explained. “I could see maybe leaking over to the north side of our gym a little bit as well.”
Expanding the bus barn could also be part of the conversation, he said, based on the preliminary plan to add a fourth bus route.
“Our buses are just so full that go to Harvard and Aurora, Doniphan, Trumbull and Phillips that we’re looking to start a fourth route so we can reduce the amount of time kids are on a bus,” he said. “That department continues to grow, so we’re probably going to have to address the bus barn. I could see that being detached from the building somewhere on campus, but I would say most of what they’re going to be doing is going to be attached right back in that corner.”
Bond funding
Though the scope of the project will not be known for some time, Mumm said funding an expansion of any size will likely require a bond issue.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that most schools don’t have money and accounts where they can pay for expansion without a bond,” he said. “So we’ll help with the process of setting up a bond if that’s what it goes to. That was kind of the whole purpose of the letter. We’re going to be very transparent through the process, so the board put a letter together to send out so everybody knew that there’s been zero decisions that have been made currently, other than pick the company, and no ideas have been already decided of what’s going to be built, if it’s going to be built, when it’s going to be built.”
Mumm concluded by saying that he appreciates the support the board gets from the community, adding that he believes it is important to provide clear communication on this project going forward.
“We’re going to be very strategic about what ends up being built,” he said. “We’re not going to build something that just looks good, but we don’t necessarily need it. We are going to really focus on what our needs are and that’s what we’re going to build.”
He said the final plan may also include room for potential growth as well.
“I’m not saying there won’t be a little cushion there for growth down the road 15 or 20 years, but I will also say that we are going to build exactly what we need,” he said.
The next step in the process, Mumm said, is for the board’s maintenance committee to start meeting with the architect, which could begin as early as next week.