$375 million repair bill -- Consultant hired by Unified calls for massive restructuring for grades, facilities

By Brent Killackey

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 2:10 AM CDT

A consultant who reviewed the Racine Unified School District's long-range facility needs is recommending nearly $375 million in improvements to the district's schools and significant reconfiguring of existing buildings and grade configurations.

The plan, presented at a special School Board meeting Monday evening, calls for making Gifford and Caddy Vista elementary schools into junior highs and changing Olympia Brown Elementary School into a high school.

Upgrading and remodeling existing buildings plus some new construction would address overcrowding at the middle- and high-school levels, bring buildings up-to-date and provide an optimal educational environment for children, according to Robert Paullin, who runs the Michigan-based The Paullin Group, which completed the facility master plan at a cost of $1.2 million.

The report, which represents nearly two years of work, gives the consulting firm's take on the most efficient way to use the district's buildings.

Last year the analysis pointed to the need for two new high schools and one new middle school. The final report found ways to avoid those more costly facilities in favor of less expensive early childhood centers and reconfiguring other buildings - but it still carried a hefty overall cost.

"I know this has some sticker shock to it, but I know this is significantly more cost-effective than building new schools," Paullin said.

"I'm a little afraid of the headline tomorrow morning," Clobes said regarding the $375 million price tag. He said he understood the benefits for smaller high schools, but additional information was needed for the board and community to understand the educational benefits of the other changes.

None of the district's buildings are recommended for closure. Instead, the report calls for updating and remodeling existing facilities. Winslow Elementary School, which closed last summer, would remain closed, although Paullin suggested the building could be used temporarily as the district remodeled other facilities.

The facility plan calls for structuring the district into lower elementary buildings with grades one through three; upper elementary buildings with grades four through six; junior high buildings with grades seven through nine and high school buildings with grades 10 through 12.

Lower elementary schools would include Giese, Goodland, Jones, Julian Thomas, North Park, Johnson, Schulte, West Ridge and Wind Point elementary schools. Upper elementary schools would include Bull Fine Arts, Fratt, Janes, Jefferson Lighthouse, Jerstad-Agerholm, Knapp, Mitchell, Red Apple, Roosevelt and Wadewitz elementary schools.

Additionally, eight early childhood centers would be built for early and regular kindergarten at a cost of nearly $44.5 million, less than the estimated $50 million cost of building a new high school, Paullin said.

The plan isn't designed to be put into place overnight; instead it is meant to provide a long-term blueprint for the next 15 or more years. The board expects the proposals to prompt extensive discussions in the coming months.

In addition to the early childhood facilities the cost estimates include: * $121.7 million for high school improvements and renovations.

* $82.8 million for junior high improvements.

* $72.6 million for upper elementary building upgrades.

* $52 million for lower elementary building upgrades.

The district's existing maintenance costs, estimated at upwards of $70 million, are addressed in the plan as building upgrades and remodeling, Paullin said.

The School Board would have to approve any of the proposals and several board members expressed early concerns about how the plan would impact busing and other operational costs and how it would alter the magnet schools.

The recommendations look at the efficient use of space without regard to political considerations, such as the impact on magnet schools. Superintendent Tom Hicks said the magnet schools could either be eliminated or continue at linked lower and upper elementary buildings.

Board member Brian Dey said he thought it might be easier to sell new buildings instead of renovations. He also pointed out that it was difficult to pass a $6.45 million referendum in the district, let alone the amount - even if spread over time - that was being proposed in the facility plan.

Board member Armin Clobes' initial take on the report cited a missing element: analysis of future growth.

"You've done really nothing to address the growth and I think that's a gaping hole," Clobes said.

Paullin said information on future growth projections was hard to come by.

School administrators will have to set aside some time to review the consultant's complete findings and recommendations. The executive summary alone was more than 150 pages.

The full report included a stack of binders - one for each school - that stretched four feet high, according to Gary Bishop, Unified's director of buildings and grounds. The binders contained a variety of analysis and materials, from conceptual layouts to line-item budgets for improvements, Paullin said.

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