Montana City School
Comprehensive Facility Planning Committee
2006 Report
Introduction
The Montana City School (District #27) is widely recognized for the positive learning environment and quality education provided to its students. Over the past several years the school has experienced steady enrollment growth, and more is inevitable. During this school year and for the first time in the school’s history the Board of Trustees expanded grades 1 and 2 to three classrooms each. In an effort to recognize and plan for this continued growth, in August 2005 the Trustees called for the creation of a Comprehensive Facility Planning Committee, consisting of members of the school board, administration, parents, and the community. The Committee was to 1) study area growth and its impact on student enrollment, 2) identify options available for accommodating anticipated growth in student enrollment, and 3) create a plan to proactively manage the effects of student enrollment growth on our facilities and programs.
This report provides the results of the Committee’s work and proposes an action plan that is a fiscally responsible approach to managing the school facilities in the face of continued enrollment growth. The purpose of the work presented in this plan is to ensure an environment for the continued success and quality education provided today. The report identifies immediate short term and long-term growth issues. The Committee considered all known options and strategies for dealing with current and future needs/changes. The report identifies key trigger points (e.g., student enrollment levels) and recommended strategies to address issues the school will confront.
This plan is a first step in what will be an ongoing strategic planning process as it relates to keeping pace with change – in a proactive rather than reactive manner. This planning provides the following benefits:
· Ensures a standard of continued quality education for the children of our community;
· Fosters community/staff involvement and buy-in, establishes teamwork;
· Adds clarity of vision and builds confidence;
· Enhances the district’s organization and efficiency, by providing an opportunity to better utilize resources; and
· Enables good communication of the facts and dispels rumors.
School Profile
The Montana City School District and Board of Trustees is committed to ensuring the school continues to provide every student a quality education and the foundation to enable each student to reach his/her potential. At the Montana City School we believe that kids are first!
We believe . . .
· The school shares the responsibility of educating students with the parents and the community.
· Children need to feel important and cared about in order for them to learn. It is our goal to create and maintain that learning environment for the children of our community.
· Communication that is open and reciprocal is critical to a functioning educational process and the operation of an effective school.
The Montana City School District values staff, administration, and board members who act as professionals, work as a team and who have high expectations of themselves and the school district. We value a small school atmosphere and an environment that is conducive to learning. We also value and believe in the importance of family and family commitments.
Where We Have Been
Since its inception in 1916, the Montana City School District has responded first to the needs of the students, to ensure a positive learning environment, and to maintain the values listed above. For several years (1948-1973), the District was able to expand the facility through building reserves and current operating monies. In response to more significant growth, construction of the Lower/Upper Elementary wing began in 1973 and was completed in 1978. This added 10 classrooms, a library, office space, and the second half of the multipurpose room (the old gym) to accommodate the enrollment of 70 students.
In 1986 the district completed a study that projected growth and identified what educational standard the community valued for its students. In response to real and projected growth, the District held a bond election in 1988 to expand the school. Construction of the connecting corridor, the library, a lunchroom, the main office, 6 classrooms, a science lab, art room and computer lab was completed in 1990 to accommodate student enrollment of 180.
From 1990 to 1994 the District experienced exponential growth, expanding from 180 students to over 300 students. In response, the Board purchased land as a future school site on the Jefferson/Lewis & Clark County line. In addition, the Board again authorized a study to evaluate enrollment growth. Subsequent Trustees sought the passage of two bond levies (1995 and 1998) to build a new facility on school property north of the current location. Both levies failed, and it was during this time that some services for students were provided in closets as narrow as 4’ wide. In 1999 the Board sought passage of a bond levy to expand the current facility to accommodate the increase in student enrollment. The levy passed and construction was completed in 2001. The expansion included 8 (4 unfinished) classrooms, a new science lab/classroom, a computer lab, art room, new gym, and expanded library. Other modifications were completed to fully utilize the existing facility.
Where We Are Today
Even with these growing pains, our district maintains a safe, positive, enthusiastic environment for student learning. This is accomplished through collaborative partnerships with parents, students, staff and community. Montana City School students continue to reflect the values of an informed, educationally supportive community. Behavior and discipline issues are documented and tracked on a daily basis through our student conflict manager program as well as through staff and parental reports. This approach has resulted in a minimum number of issues as well as zero incidents that have resulted in student expulsion.
The District also tracks, on a yearly basis, the standardized test results of our students. These results have shown that the Montana City School students consistently score well and exceed the state average as well as the national average on these examinations. Another measure of our students’ success can be found each year in the honor rolls from Helena High School or Jefferson High School where names of former Montana City School students frequently appear.
Today school enrollment stands at 393 students, with 52 faculty/staff. The school district has two classrooms for each grade level (K-8), except in first and second grades, where 3 classrooms are required to meet state accreditation standards (See Appendix A for standards and current enrollment). All finished (and unfinished) classrooms are in use in some capacity. At some point, moderate student growth will trigger the need for more space – needs that can be handled at the current facility with options discussed in another section of this report. The facility has 3 unfinished classrooms available for future growth. Two of the classrooms are currently used for physical education changing rooms in the middle school and the third for storage.
The current growth of student enrollment has placed pressure on current facilities and created safety issues that were identified by parents and staff and acknowledged by the Committee. Issues such as parking lot safety during student drop-off and pick-up, the inability to adequately supervise the students using the current changing rooms, and lack of a safe and restricted-use custodial space. The Committee, Board of Trustees, administration, and PTA continue to work on identifying solutions that would address these immediate issues. The Board has discussed adding changing rooms and custodial workspace/storage onto the gym (see Minor Decision Points discussion). The Committee has discussed extending the existing sidewalk around the perimeter of the main parking lot, and creation of a separate parking lot for staff. These options are not discussed in detail in this report as they are being pursued in separate efforts this year.
The results of the Committee’s demographic and long-term needs analysis identified limitations that exist in the current facility. The results of the Demographic Study are presented in detail in Appendix B. The Committee looked at population trends and subdivision applications and approvals in both Jefferson County and Lewis & Clark County. The Committee used different methods to evaluate and project school enrollment. Appendix C contains student enrollment history and projections using the different methods. The Committee’s overall conclusion is that with so many different factors to consider it is difficult to make substantive predictions that will stand the test of time. Therefore the Committee recommends that analysis be completed in the fall of each year to determine the level of growth experienced by the School District. In addition, the Committee believes the District should obtain information regarding proposed and approved subdivisions, as this may be a prime indicator for projecting future growth.
The results of the long-term needs analysis indicate that expansion of facilities on the current site is limited by the capacity of the school’s septic system. The current septic system was installed during the 2000-2001 construction. The capacity of that system is projected to be 600 people (approximately 540 students and 60 faculty/staff).
The remainder of the report discusses the recommended decision trigger points, as well as the options available for consideration at each of these points.
Trigger Points
The Comprehensive Facility Planning Committee completed analysis of the various enrollment growth issues confronting the School District and the desire to be fiscally responsible in making future decisions. When evaluating those issues, the Committee identified various events (trigger points) that should be considered by future Boards/committees in making recommendations for changes in the current operation of the school, modifications to the current facility, and expansion beyond the capacity of the current facility. These trigger points include:
· Total student enrollment;
· Student enrollment by grade level;
· Number of building staff/faculty; and
· The number/type of educational programs offered.
The most significant trigger point is when the school district projects it will reach the maximum capacity of the current facility (600 students, staff, and faculty), the anticipated maximum capacity of the current septic system. Major actions must have been undertaken by the school district at the point that trigger is reached. These options involve more planning and will likely involve voter approval; therefore, the Committee recommends a three-year planning window. For example, if, at the completion of the annual analysis, the District projects that building capacity will be reached in 2011, then planning should begin in 2008 in order to implement the chosen option by the 2011-2012 school year.
Prior to that point there are several options available to the school district to accommodate student enrollment growth within the current facility. The following sections discuss the available options both before and after the 600-person trigger point and include Minor and Major Decision Points.
Minor Decision Points
The Committee identified several options for dealing with future growth needs. They can be implemented individually or in combination, with differing results and ramifications. Some are conducive to moderate growth, while others may only be necessary with more significant growth. These options are:
· Finish classrooms
· Change Scheduling or reorganize current facility usage patterns
· Modify the “Accepting Out of District Students” policy
· Enter Inter Local agreements to share facilities/staff
· Finish Classrooms
There are currently three unfinished classrooms in the facility. As discussed previously, these classrooms are used as changing rooms for the middle school PE classes and as storage. To pursue finishing these classrooms additional space will either have to be built on the current property or those rooms modified/converted to provide adequate changing rooms and storage facilities.
At the January 2006 Board of Trustees meeting, the Superintendent approached the Board with concerns over the proximity of the current changing rooms to the gym and the inability of staff to appropriately supervise these spaces during the school day and during extracurricular events. The Board authorized the Superintendent to pursue hiring an architect to develop plans to address his concerns. At the February meeting the Board and architect discussed options for creating changing rooms within our existing space as well as adding changing rooms and storage onto the current building.
At the March meeting the Board authorized the Superintendent and architect to pursue bid proposals for construction of changing rooms/storage space on the east outside wall of the gym. The Board requested that the proposals include additive alternatives for completion of one, two or three classrooms. This construction will most likely use current and one-time monies and will not require asking the local taxpayers to vote on a building reserve levy or a building bond.
The Board agrees with the Comprehensive Facility Planning Committee that pursuing this option enables the district to manage future growth within our current budget constraints and without sacrificing the positive learning environment currently enjoyed by the district’s students.
· Change Scheduling/Reorganizing
One of the most important ways space may be utilized differently is to change the current scheduling patterns of both the elementary and middle school. Many of the “special” rooms (e.g. music, art, band room, reading room, etc.) are only used during part of the day. Part-time employees who often teach more than one subject typically use these rooms. It may be possible to utilize these spaces by flexible scheduling, however we often combine several part time positions to make the teaching position more attractive to applicants. Additionally, 1 or 2 classrooms could be made available if special programs, such as Quest, LEAP, counseling, reading room, shared space or were changed. This option could potentially accommodate 15-100 additional students, depending on how the room use/schedule were changed. The Committee believes this option could be pursued at any time at very little or no expense. It is likely that no current programs and services would be reduced or negatively affected. However, some convenience and flexibility might be lost in the current schedule, as well, some teachers might be asked to make scheduling sacrifices.
· Out of District
During the course of its deliberations, the Committee discussed the ramifications of the current school district policy of accepting out-of-district students. It was reported to the Committee that some members of the community believe that school enrollment growth is greater because of the existing policy. The Committee discussed the pros and cons of accepting out-of-district students and the impact those students have on the district’s facility needs. Some pros associated with accepting out-of-district students include the potential to expand the diversity of students, faculty/staff children would be enrolled, and each student enrolled in the school brings an allocation of state money (ANB). In addition, if a grade level enrollment reaches the statutory standard accepting out-of-district students may enable the District to add another class, thus providing smaller classes sizes, to the benefit of all students at that grade level. Some cons could be that growth exceeds our capacity and therefore costs the districts’ taxpayers more to provide a quality education.