Most of the building that houses McCall Donnelly High School and McCall Elementary School will be demolished and a new building with a new footprint will replace it, the McCall Donnelly Board of Trustees decided Monday.
The new plan comes after trustees learned on Nov. 1 that the oldest parts of the building, which date back to 1959, would need to be demolished as part of a remodeling plan.
Trustees voted for the revised concept, which would cost in full $14.9 million. The cost of leaving the existing building intact and doing a remodel that would also bring the building up to code would have cost $90,000 less.
However, there is only $10.5 million budgeted for the project from the $28.5 million school bond voters approved in 2006.
The plan adopted Monday would demolish nearly all of the existing school, located at Stibnite and Mission streets.
The only areas left standing, which would be remodeled, would be the high school gym and the newer elementary wing that contains the school's multipurpose room and classrooms.
M-D Superintendent Terry Donicht proposed to make up the $4 million gap by juggling accounts and investment interest.
Donicht recommended the following, which the board accepted:
- Use $2 million earned from interest on investing the $28.5 million as the buildings get built.
- Use $841,000 the board transferred a year ago into construction that is now accruing interest in a state account and is expected to mature to $900,000 when needed.
- Transfer $1.1 million from the general fund into construction. That includes $1 million plus interest earned through investment by the time the money is needed two years from now.
Trustees Question Plan
Not all trustees accepted the proposal at first. Trustee Betty Weida was edgy about dipping into the district's financial cushion and asked why not ask voters for a supplemental property tax levy or a multi-year facilities-plant levy.
Trustee Mary Hart said she worried about the financing plan, which would take money away from the new McCall Elementary School now under construction and an expansion of Donnelly Elementary School.
Donicht and board Chairman Douglas MacNichol advised against another levy because it would delay the scheduled start of construction beyond June, when the current school year ends.
The redesign of the high school would provide a total of 90,568 square feet of floor space and capacity for about 450 students. The high school now has 375 students.
Under the plan, the rebuilt area would cover 44,145 square feet and the remodeled area would cover 46,423 square feet.
The new layout would provide a total of 300 parking spaces, but separate the front and back parking lots with an area of turf on the west side of the campus fronting Mission Street. School buses would deliver students at the rear of the building where elementary
students now disembark.
With remodeling, the current gym would get a new floor and locker rooms, and the current multipurpose-room wing would get a new roof. Both structures would receive new heating and air-conditioning systems, windows and finishes.
High school Principal Tim Thomas and architects expect to meet with high school staff and students to figure out how classrooms will fit inside the new footprint of the revised conceptual plan.
