Voters Face Important Choice for Schools

DAYTON - Voters in the Dayton School District will decide this month whether to approve a bond levy to provide funding to complete a major renovation of the school facilities here. The bond of $19.955 million would fund the majority of the project, which is pro­jected to cost $24.254 mil­lion. The project would be the first major renovation at Dayton Schools in 30 years.

The Dayton School Board created a facilities committee more than a year ago, made up of teach­ers, school administrators, school board members and community leaders. The group was asked to take a thorough look at all of the school facilities and make a recommendation to the school board for possible improvements.

The committee worked with a consultant called BLRB Architects, out of Spokane, to conduct a com­prehensive inspection of all the school facilities and identify problems that need­ed attention. From the results of that study, the committee and BLRB put together the plan for what they are call­ing a "Campus-Wide School Modernization."

The plan has four major elements. The first is a com­plete renovation of Dayton High School. The exterior of the historic 91-year-old building will be preserved, but the interior will be gutted and completely rebuilt.

"We're basically con­structing a new building inside the building," said Dayton School Superinten­dent Doug Johnson. The new high school will have many new features, includ­ing an elevator and student restrooms on both first and second floors.

Also, the auditorium, which currently takes up about half of the upper floor, will be removed. Some of the space will be converted to classrooms, and a new li­brary/ media center will also be built.

"The new high school classrooms will be 900 square feet," Johnson said. He said the current class­rooms in the high school are between 660 and 700 square feet.

Johnson also pointed out that access for disabled students and staff will be greatly improved. The high school will have an elevator for the first time, which will run from the basement to the second floor. Also, all en­trances/ exits, restrooms and other facilities will be ADA compliant. New special edu­cation services will also be provided.

The new build-out will allow replacement of all of the outdated systems in the building, including heat­ing/ cooling, electrical and plumbing, as well as install­ing new modern digital com­munications.

The second element is the replacement of utility systems in the K-8 building. That building, constructed in the 1950s, will not receive major renovation, but the heating, cooling, ventila­tion and plumbing systems are in poor condition. And the electrical system is very outdated. All new systems will be installed, along with a new data/communications system.

"Our systems are at the end of their life," Johnson said. He said the district has had some large repair costs lately, far beyond reserves set aside to pay for main­tenance and repair. "We're to the point where repair costs will impact our ability to provide an education to kids," He said.

The third major element of the project will be the construction of a new com­mons building, to be located between the two school buildings. The current ad­ministration building will be replaced by the new building, which will include new kitchen and cafeteria facilities as well as a new au­ditorium space. The current kitchen/multipurpose room area will then be converted to a full-time elementary/ middle school gymnasium, with expanded facilities.

Johnson says the new commons building will re­solve several issues: The current kitchen equip­ment is in poor repair. A full-time gym is needed for elementary and middle school PE classes, which are now required by the state for all students. The new gym will also relieve conflicts for practice by junior and senior high ath­letic teams. Approximately three hours of janitorial time will be saved each day without the need to convert the caf­eteria back to a gym after breakfast and lunch. The new auditorium space is needed due to the elimi­nation of the high school auditorium, Johnson said.

One of the most impor­tant reasons for construction of the new building is secu­rity, Johnson said. Tying the elementary and high schools together will allow the entire school to be locked down as one unit in an emergency.

The final element of the project is the construction of a new maintenance building and re-roofing the shop and bus barn buildings. The new maintenance building will provide storage and a repair facility for school equip­ment.

Johnson is urging voters to learn more about the pro­posed project and ask ques­tions. "Feel free to call me or one of the board members," he said. "Or come to our meeting."

The levy committee has scheduled one more infor­mation meeting, to be held April 10 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Delany Room at Day­ton Memorial Library.

"We're not afraid to an­swer questions," Johnson said.