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Eanes school board nixes May bond election
Thursday, January 14, 2010
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Eanes school board members opted to delay putting a bond proposal before voters in May during a study session Monday night with district Superintendent Nola Wellman. District attorney Bernadette Gonzalez had provided them with timelines for two possible elections, one in May and a later one in the fall.
“I do not think in the present economic climate that having an election in May is prudent,” Jim Strickland, board president, said. “I think it would be wise to take a look at the economy in November and make a decision at that time.”
Board members James Kallison, Robert Durkee, Mike Monnig and Ellen Balthazar agreed.
“We still have a lot of questions to answer,” Balthazar said.
Wellman brought board members a draft list of bond projects that included all the items currently under consideration for the next bond proposal, including those recommended by district administrators and a Community Bond Advisory Committee. The total cost of items on the list was $140.8 million. The CBAC recommended $111 million of the projects listed, and the administration recommended $122.5 million of the projects on the list.
Included on the draft list of bond items was $10.8 million in Americans with Disabilities Act modifications, $31 million of work on Eanes Elementary School, a $4.6 million Student Activity Center that would include a covered practice field and a $4.1 million outdoor swim center.
Wellman said the list was a work in progress.
“We continue to prioritize and refine that list,” she said. “We have to be sensitive to our taxpayers and bring forth a list for their consideration. The board has received much information, but has not had the opportunity to deliberate about the considerations.”
Wellman also came equipped with key questions for board members aimed at providing direction to prioritize bond items under consideration.
Topping Wellman’s list of questions were those concerning elementary schools. She asked for direction in the scope of work to be done to Eanes Elementary School, which is being considered for major remodeling and renovation. She also asked for input on whether to provide additional classrooms at Forest Trail if the school may eventually be converted into administrative space. Wellman also asked board members for a decision on whether or not to continue investigating plans to build a new elementary school on the district-owned River Hills tract in the western part of the district.
That issue brought vocal input from more than 50 Valley View parents attending the meeting in determined support of the new school. Some elementary students in the western edge of the district are currently bused to Valley View Elementary School, which sits adjacent to Forest Trail Elementary School on Loop 360. Parents say many of their children ride the bus one-and-a-half hours a day on dangerous roadways to get to and from the school.
District parent Ian Ball spoke during open session on behalf of the Valley View parents gathered, providing board members with a position paper on the building of a new school on the River Hills site. Ball said building the school was extremely feasible, financially responsible and very strongly supported by the community. He provided site concepts by the architectural firm O’Connell Robertson done in 2007, engineering data by TxDot concluding that a traffic light at the intersection of Bee Cave Road and River Hills Road was warranted and a statement that the Lower Colorado River Authority intends to continue water service further down River Hills Road.
Other key questions Wellman put before the board included what facility improvements should be provided to serve the needs of specialized populations, including a behavioral support unit; what level of technology improvements the board desires for students – replacing old equipment or enhancing the programs; whether to begin developing the Shriner tract west of the current administration building for new facilities such as a Student Activity Center, swimming pool, parking and maintenance and operations facility; what scope and timeline should ADA modifications be accomplished; and whether some facilities should be repurposed, such as the current administration building for educational use and either Forest Trail or Valley View elementary school for administrative offices.
Kallison spoke up in favor of repurposing an elementary school to administration, converting the old administration building to a facility for special populations and building a new elementary school closer to it’s neighborhood population.
“I think it is a good idea for all the personal reasons voiced by residents,” he said. “It also gets us a new needed administration facility and a permanent location for The Learning Center and the Alternative Education Program. I know we need more data. But to me, that adds up to a lot more pluses than negatives. It solves a lot of problems.”
Other board members questioned whether the distance of Valley View Elementary School from its neighborhood population was in itself enough of a reason to provide a new school or whether the new school indeed provided other cost savings and long-range planning solutions.
Board members asked Wellman for more detailed concept information on the $4.6 million Student Activity Center that would include a covered practice field listed as a recommended bond item. Area residents voted down a $5 million covered practice facility during the last district bond election in May 2006 by a 54-46 percent margin. Voters did approve a separate $53 million bond for safety and security modifications, technology and facility upgrades in that election.
Wellman said administrators envisioned a unified facility with one side a student activity center and one side a student activity center to house dancing and wrestling programs. She said a student activity center would be used on school days by students and after hours by the community for rental activities.
Board member Mike Monnig voiced support for a new student activity center.
“I’m all for doing the whole thing right now,” he said. “Make it not only a practice facility, but add some costs to it and make it a community center. “
Balthazar disagreed.
“I love the dance team, I love Hyline, and I love wrestling,” she said. “But, I am uncomfortable that we continue to assume that every single group has to have their own space with their own name on it. Somewhere along the way, we seemed to have lost the idea that we can multipurpose.”
In the end, board members asked Wellman for detailed cost figures on the projects involved in the questions she asked.
“We need some numbers in order to make intelligent decisions and give you some direction,” Durkee said.
Wellman agreed to provide more information specific to the issues deemed critical by board members. A second study session on the district bond proposal had been scheduled for Jan. 30, but Strickland asked that other dates for the meeting be investigated for early February when all board members could attend.
The Eanes School Board has lost its mind. The entire nation is in the grip of the most severe economic downtrun since the 1930’s. I get up each day thanking my Maker that I have a job and some financial security. Eanes taxpayers already have a tremendous tax burden and the EISD BOT should only propose bond issues that are absolutely necessary for the education of our K-12 population. Covered football fields, swim facilities, plush administration offices etc have little to nothing to do with educating our students. It is at once enraging and spell-binding to consider that our elected EISD BOT would propose these extravagant purposes for the bond money repaid with my hard-earned tax dollars. I cannot imagine how others with no children in EISD view these proposals; their heads must be on fire!
I bet there is more than enough support in this community for a rational bond program that creates a new school to keep students off of buses for hours every day and off the highway that Bee Caves has become, makes Eanes Elementary as safe as it can be and brings all existing school facilities into compliance with Federal and State disability laws and regulations, moves the 19+ program out of its incredibly unsafe and hideous surroundings. But the trustees have rightly determined that there is no appetite for the $100MM bond program the administration has been floating. What will–and should–kill any bond program in these times is best illustrated by Mike Monnig’s reasoning. You are a trustee of the PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Mike. It is not the responsibility of a public school district to build community centers. Your suggestion that we should just “add some costs to” a practice facility shows how out of touch the trustees are with what their responsibility truly is: education. Mike, if Westlake Hills and Rollingwood and all the other little wannabe towns around here want a community center, they can float their own bonds to raise the money from the citizens to support it. In the meantime, trustees should focus on teachers, students, and facilities we have to make sure they appropriately serve the students who need them.
I agree with Common Sense for the most part. But doesn’t little Rollingwood already provide quite a bit?
hey ranger, did you even read the article?
It’s astonishing that the leadership even floated this “dream” in this economy.
Why doesn’t the district take a hard look at boundary lines and schools first while removing out of district transfers from the elementary picture.
If Eanes Elem is refurbished with some additional space and an addition were made to Barton Creek and Valley View while the admin is moved to Forest Trail- would it not be possible to send the VV kids from Cuernavaca to Barton Creek?? IT is a shorter bus ride and a closer existing school.
Who are we building a new school for?? 600 kids– look at the transfer issue within our district. I am certain Eanes taxpayers are not in favor of building a new school so we can add more out of district kids which is exactly what would happen if a new school is built out Cuernavaca. Maybe in 15 years it might be needed but definitely not now.
Since when does a HS need an indoor practice field and a multimillion dollar student center???
I would vote for the extracurricular/athletic facility! Education is not ALL academics! Schooling isn’t just about classwork. We all participate in the world in different ways–some are more academically oriented; others are interested in and will make a living doing other things such as politics, athletics, music, religious service, many other things. Not every child is gifted in classroom activity. No doubt Eanes fulfills the basic requirements for academics. There are other areas of expertise where our students can be successful than in the classroom. All areas should be supported.
It’s pretty tough to put forth the argument that Eanes ISD doesn’t support athletics. In fact they do, and to a ridiculous degree at the expense of all other programs. I’ll support improvements to just about anything but additional athletic facilities in future bond proposals.
“Westlake mom” – you write: “Eanes fulfills the basic requirements for academics.” Maybe this is true for your child, but not for all children. That’s why many children who live in the district are now enrolled in private school, not Eanes ISD. 72% of the taxpayers in Eanes ISD do not have children enrolled in the district. I am happy to pay private school tuition (worth every penny!) and my property taxes too. But I will not vote for any bond proposal that includes a covered football practice field.
Hate to tell you this, but politics, music, religious service and most other things–including athletic professionals–sort of rely on having a bedrock of academic preparation, Westlake Mom. Football players grow old and can’t play; it would be good if they could do something else when that happens. Pro dancers need something to fall back on because they are limited by time, talent, and looks–all of which fade over time. Preachers need to write sermons; social workers need to communicate with the courts. People with learning disabilities need job training and life skills. How anyone could argue that a public school should place academic preparation on an equal level as a covered practice field is really quite extraordinary. Perhaps you haven’t read how China and India are surging in today’s economy not because of the brute strength of their numbers alone, but because they prepare children to compete in the world as we know it today. Every child in EISD needs to be prepared to analyze and think critically; that is the goal of a high school education. You can’t really believe creating informed and capable citizens is second to a covered practice field. So perhaps you were just making a point that Westlake kids should have it all. The best academics. The best practice facilities. The best science labs. The best of everything. No argument here. Perhaps you have not experienced this in your own life, but sometimes there just isn’t enough money to do everything you want to do. And then you have to make a choice: your covered practice field for some, or a safe and effective learning environment for all. To me, the choice is clear. It appears as though EISD asked enough people and discovered the desire to have it all at any cost is a distinct minority view. Now, perhaps they should go back to the drawing board and create a bond program that addresses the problem for our neighbors far out Bee Cave road, children with disabilities who need access to our campuses, and the horrendous buildings that house the 19+ programs and the alternative learning center. Most everyone could see their way clear to vote for that program, and I sincerely hope that the trustees will get behind it, too.
OMG, I can’t believe we all missed this. 3 incumbent Trustees will be up for re-election in May! A sure fire way to have a 3 incumbents tossed out would be to have a $140MM bond election at the same time. This isn’t dead, people: this will be the plan for November, after all incumbents are safely back in their seats.