Ewing-Clearwater-Orchard consolidating in 2020 pending bond
- Thread starter northeastNebraska
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Using one of the current buildings is the most common sense at this point. No need to build a brand new school with three small towns involved. If one of the schools was a class C sized town it would make more sense with the stability it would bring. Good option for them to consolidate, but it's rare to build a new school because you are combining schools.
The last consolidation that I was part of the finances say build a new building. It is amazing how much it costs to run multiple buildings. Even with renovations they are very inefficient compared to a new building. Also consider transportation and extra teachers plus administrator costs.
If you do the math over 20 years building a new building compared to operational cost of 3 buildings and extra staff, extra custodians, extra para, extra busing and bus drivers, extra cooks, extra building Admin and extra utilities for each building compared to one. Over 20 years it will come to the same as a new building so you are not actually wasting money
In the hypothetical sense that it will be sustainable, yes. Plus, you are adding in the levy factor that patrons vote on. How many non metro new school districts in the last 20 years have built brand new schools? Cross County and....? How about class D schools all combining and building new? You add the saving of not paying all of these staff members. In class D sized communities the school is by far the largest employer. What happens when you cut a lot of jobs? Do you think all of these suddenly unemployed teachers, paras, custodians etc don't have kids in the school district? There's a lot of logistics involved.
So what your saying is to keep buildings and over spend on staff in order to safe longevity of the combined school districts Kinda a double edge sword dont you think
It's a huge double edged sword. Do research on Loup City and see what happens to student enrollment when a school cuts staff. When small schools consolidate they always keep their buildings open as long as they can to keep staff so their children and families stay part of the school district. IF they can build new, cut staff, pass a bond, and still sustain reasonable enrollment then more power to them. Here's another factor from school consolidations. An average of 5-10% of students will attend a different school district from the result of a consolidation/coop. This is a statistic presented when there are feasibility studies for consolidations.. Neligh and O'Neill would get new students from this.
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I would agree that pride kills more small towns than anything. The three districts probably dont want one town to have the high school and that pride by moving the schools out of all three towns will kill each one slowly.
I agree with the pride. I'm not trying to argue with anyone, but some people on this board just say yay building and have zero logic as to why.
Look at this why I say it's a waste of money. This without a doubt would cut staff (rough estimate that 8% of high school students are kids of staff)
Current boy/girl enrollment: 92
8% leave (parent job cut) = 85
10% leave in school consolidation = 76
Their enrollment is now sitting at 76. That is the size of Shelton. It would still be a D1 school, but now you have eliminated a good population of each small community because you cut staff. A good thing to remember in consolidations is that students are the ones who create schools, a school does not make kids fall out of the sky.
Look at this why I say it's a waste of money. This without a doubt would cut staff (rough estimate that 8% of high school students are kids of staff)
Current boy/girl enrollment: 92
8% leave (parent job cut) = 85
10% leave in school consolidation = 76
Their enrollment is now sitting at 76. That is the size of Shelton. It would still be a D1 school, but now you have eliminated a good population of each small community because you cut staff. A good thing to remember in consolidations is that students are the ones who create schools, a school does not make kids fall out of the sky.
Southwest built a new school in the last 20 years or so. It is located in Bartley. Not sure how new the Southern Valley building is, but I'm pretty sure it was built in the last 25 years or so.
I have not been in their new school. I can tell you this though, it wouldn't have taken much to improve on their old building.
That’s what I heard when I first coached down there that it was in rough shape. The new school and gym are very nice for a school their size. Going to Southwest was also the first time I ever had pizza from the Rocket Inn! So good.
I was a long term sub in Bartley for a semester. The old building was in very rough shape. I had pizza at the Rocket Inn a couple of times, very very good pizza. Back then there was a cafe in Bartley and they had great food as well. The semester I was there was the first year of the coop with Beaver Valley.
Congrats to three small communities getting together and trying to do what’s best for their kids.
Now if other rural communities and districts throughout the state would use Summerland as an example, it could be beneficial for many.
Election results from NDN...
Ewing voters cast 360 votes in favor, with 38 against the building project. In Clearwater, 332 voters approved the bond, with 103 against.
The closest contest was in Orchard, where 289 individuals approved of the new consolidation and school, while 230 voted no.
Guess we know which town held the generational grudge.
Ewing voters cast 360 votes in favor, with 38 against the building project. In Clearwater, 332 voters approved the bond, with 103 against.
The closest contest was in Orchard, where 289 individuals approved of the new consolidation and school, while 230 voted no.
Guess we know which town held the generational grudge.
Why Orchard was so against this for so long is crazy.
What does Orchard have to offer?: Not much
What changes will happen to Orchard once this school is built?: Not much.
Why? Because there isn’t anything there to begin with.
This is for the betterment of future generations in this area. So happy this is happening.
There probably was a bit of generational grudge that contributed, but I think the fact that Orchard has to contribute nearly $6 million more to the school probably was a bigger factor.
Because Orchard has the highest valuation of the new merged district. When it's all said and done, the levy will be the same across all three districts (now one district).
So they are aiming to “consolidate” in July. Will the schools just run accordingly until the new school is built?
Yeah its nearly done. They've been doing tours of it for a couple weeks now. I haven't taken one yet, but one of my buddies is one of the contractors. From the snapchats I get, it's a pretty good lookin facility.
Screenshot the snaps and post them on here
.... Did the bond pass with the turf/track or do they have grass? Excited to see this school some day.I'm curious about the field too. They have the lights up, but when I drove past the other day I didn't see any sort of field put in just yetScreenshot the snaps and post them on here
I would hope they would be putting in turf. For that amount of money, why not go all the way.
I'm fairly certain that I had read a while ago that they were putting in a turf field.
Agreed. It'll be an interesting set up. It's literally butted up to the north side of the school. The press box is right on top of the school. Could make this place a top facility in class C or D, whichever it ends up being.
I just hope more school administrators get to visit the new school and think big picture with their current situation. If these three schools can do it, why can’t we with town A down the road?
