I received some feedback that I was “all over the place” with my previous post about the School Board’s Master Planning Committee and the rebuild of Treasure Mountain. I’ll gladly take the feedback. I’m definitely not a writer. And I’m just happy someone read it :-). That said, I do want to make sure my point is as clear as possible.

So, here is the bullet point version:

• The Park City School Board formed a Master Planning Committee to decide whether Treasure Mountain Junior High (TMJH) should be rebuilt.
• Some would say they formed a Master Planning Committee because they wanted it rebuilt.
• During Wednesday’s meeting of the Master Planning Committee, participants were divided into groups and tasked with deciding where they would put schools on a map.
• I heard little discussion at all about tearing down Treasure Mountain; however, every single group decided to tear down TMJH, which seems strange.
• When I look at the facts, there aren’t glaring reasons to tear it down. Test scores are as good at TMJH as our best designed schools. People claim that it will cost more to fix it than to rebuild it, but the glaring problem with the school is allegedly the pipes and that has been estimated at a $3 million fix (versus $25 for a new school). People talk about the soil being bad, although it’s not dangerous according to the EPA … and regardless the EPA said they’ll pay to fix it.
• When the master planning committee started, it was about fixing a junior high. Now it is about building a new junior high, adding on to the high school, moving the learning center, building a new district office, moving Dozier field, adding a field house, redoing the high school gym, building a PC CAPS building, and creating a community center.
• This could cost upwards of $50 million.
• If a bond is necessary for rebuilding the school, this is going to eventually bite teachers in the *ss because residents are going to have tax/bond fatigue. When the next round of teacher raises come up, that requires a tax increase, people may say no thanks.

So, there you have it. I hope that’s a little easier to follow. It’s more blunt and more direct, but that’s how I see it.

During last night’s School Board Master Planning Committee meetings, people were divided into 6 groups. Each of these groups decided where they should put schools on a map (if they were to choose). This included tearing down and building new schools. The process started with Molly Smith, the meeting organizer, presenting example solutions. A participant asked why Ms Smith had not suggested tearing down Treasure Mountain in her examples. The participant essentially said she thought that was a given. Someone then chimed in that Treasure Mountain would cost more to renovate than to rebuild. They said it would cost $29 million.

When the 6 groups came back and all recommended tearing down Treasure Mountain, with not a mention of why, again it seemed like a foregone conclusion. I’m not sure why that is. One of the original reasons the Master Planning Committee was brought together was to decide if Treasure Mountain Junior High Should be torn down.

Yet now, it wasn’t the focus of the discussion at all. It’s like a murder trial where guilt is assumed and the jury spends all their time on how they should kill the man.

To be fair, I was not sitting with each group throughout their discussions. Perhaps there were lengthy discussions in each group on whether it made sense to tear down Treasure Mountain. Yet, my gut tells me there weren’t many discussions (perhaps participants could validate or invalidate that assumption).

My guess is that it was a foregone conclusion in most people’s minds. The participants had a huge teacher component. Have teachers heard “through the grapevine” that Treasure Mountain was going to be blown up? Has it been said one too many times on KPCW? What was it? I’m not sure, but it sure seems like a given.

My problem with assuming Treasure Mountain should be torn down is that it shouldn’t be a given. I understand that there is a universal dislike for Treasure Mountain school. There are universal dislikes for many schools, but it doesn’t mean they should be torn down. I understand that there are problems with pipes. According to rough estimates by the school, that’s about a $3 million dollar problem to fix. I understand the soil tested (which was on the ball fields and grass by the way) is no danger to students but should be remediated. The EPA said they would pay for that.

I then look at the document that everyone references when they say it will take $29 million to FIX Treasure Mountain. That includes adding an auditorium, widening halls, a new lecture hall, upgraded electrical, etc. Some of that $29 million is likely REQUIRED but not all of it… not a large part of it.

Then I look at SAGE test scores for Treasure Mountain Students. We are supposed to be a data driven school district. Treasure Mountain’s SAGE results of 57% competency in language, 51% in Math, and 56% in science are in line with our flagship High School (53%, 46%, 55%) and Ecker Hill (59%, 50%, 59%). What I heard last night from one teacher, that got positive ovations, was that we want to spend money on things that educate our children. Looking at the two “best” schools in our district, just building a school doesn’t seem to help that.

This isn’t to say that I necessarily think tearing down a school built in 1983, doesn’t make sense on some levels. But I don’t think it should be assumed though.

I’m sure there are a flood of people, many of them teachers, reading this and thinking I have two heads. I can hear them say, “you try teaching there!” or “Don’t you care about the children?”. I actually do care about the kids (and you) and that is why I’m concerned.

This effort is going to cost a lot of money. A bond will likely be issued to pay for it. All home owners around Park City are going to be paying this off for 40 years. This comes on top of a basin rec bond last year and tax increases by the School District and county over the past few years. At some point, citizens will likely stand up and say ENOUGH. That’s not likely to happen with this bond because it has already been drilled into everyone’s head as a foregone conclusion. However, it very well may happen on the next tax increase. That tax increase, if passed, would probably be for teacher salaries.

Because I completely agree that the most important things are what’s being taught and who’s teaching it, I want our kids to have the best we can afford. If we keep spending huge amounts of money on things that may not be necessary, we just may find that when we really want something, the public isn’t going to allow it. That would be too bad. But it is avoidable.

So do I advocate keeping Treasure Mountain and not rebuilding it? I’m not sure. However, I do advocate having a public discussion about that in depth with good information that isn’t used to mislead people.

That said, it already feels a little too late for that. So, we’ll likely steam-roll forward to a bond in November for what was originally supposed to be just rebuilding a school but is now probably redesigning a campus — that may not even be needed.

Will there be a cost to our kids and teachers if this comes to pass? If so, how big? We’ll probably find that out in a few years.

Last night I live blogged the School Board’s Master Planning committee. The live blog was probably a little hard to follow, because so much of what was done was visual. In effect the members of the committee worked in six teams to place cutouts of schools (i.e. the high school, Treasure Mountain, McPolin, etc.) on a map of the Snyderville Basin.

Each group then presented their ideas in front of the committee. These ideas were recorded by the planners and the planners will use the 6 proposals to find common ideas and work their way down to two to three scenarios. Then during the next meeting, the committee will look at those scenarios and put costs alongside them, in order to make a final recommendation.

Of the six groups, five were essentially the same. These groups want to knock down Treasure Mountain, add on to the high school to support 9th graders, build a new district office, leave McPolin where it is, and move the Treasure Mountain School somewhere. These five groups varied on some concepts. Most, but not all, also wanted to build a fieldhouse on Kearns. At least one group wanted to build a PC CAPS building. Some groups wanted to move Treasure Mountain School to a property at Bear Hollow. Other groups wanted to move Treasure Mountain School to the Ecker Hill campus. Most groups wanted to move Dozier field to another spot on Kearns. One group wanted to leave Dozier Field where it is.

The sixth group presented an out of the box idea to move the High School to a spot between Trailside and Round Valley. The discussion around the idea led to further discussions about converting the existing High School in to some sort of arts school. While the group admitted this was presented to just make people think about alternatives, it really does represent the only different idea. Therefore, it is very likely that this idea won’t be in the mix.

So, the proposed outcome is becoming clearer. Here is my best guess of what will happen:

• Tear down Treasure Mountain
• Add on to current High School to support the 9th grade
• Move learning center to north side of High School
• Redo entrance to McPolin so it is easier to access
• Rebuild Treasure Mountain at Bear Hollow
• Rebuild the District office on Kearns
• Move Dozier Field and the baseball diamonds to a new location on Kearns

That means the elementary schools will be Pre-K to 4th. Treasure Mountain at Bear Hollow will be 5th and 6th. Ecker Hill will be 7th and 8th. The high school will be 9th to 12th.

Of course, Treasure Mountain could be built next to Ecker Hill Middle School. I believe the traffic concerns will push them to place the school at Bear Hollow. They may also decide to build a fieldhouse on Kearns. However, I believe they will start to see the total costs of this project add up and it will discourage them from doing so.

So, what will this likely cost? That’s a good question and without specific plans, it’s really a guess. I’m willing to try, though. Rebuilding Treasure Mountain will probably be about $20-$25 million. Adding on to the High School will probably be around $5 million. A new district office will probably be about $3 million. Moving the fields and redoing the entrance to McPolin is probably under a million. Building a new learning center is probably $1-$2 million. The tear down is probably another million or two. Permits and paying to mitigate traffic (which they will likely have to do) are probably another million. So, I would guess we are looking at around $40 million.

If they want to add a fieldhouse, then maybe $45-$50 million. Currently, the school district has about $18 million in the bank. Look for them to use just part of that money (maybe $5 million) on this project. So, we are probably looking at a bond of $30-$35 million.

Then there will also be the costs of “portable classrooms” that can be used while this construction is taking place and outfitting the schools with equipment. That likely will have to come out of the School District’s budget.

The next Master Planning Committee meeting, where a recommendation will be finalized, is May 14th.

It should be an interesting summer.

We are Live Blogging Tonight’s Master Planning Committee Meeting. Click Read More below to follow the live blog. Your browser should auto refresh as this story is updated.

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