031008 Minutes.pdf - Junction City School District

JUNCTION CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
March 10, 2008
MINUTES
Reid Anderson
Kathleen Rodden-Nord
Chris Meyer
Randy Trummer
Tony Ceniga
Chuck Cole
Committee Members
Tom Endersby
Jill Case
Craig Rothenberger
Leigh Wilcox
Tonda Clouston
Terry Alberts
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 p.m.
Terrie McFadden
Brandon Nicol
Linda Jackson
Stephanie White
Others
I. WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS – Superintendent Rodden-Nord welcomed everyone to
the first Junction City School District Facilities Steering Committee meeting and thanked them
all for volunteering their time to this committee. Everyone introduced themselves.
II.
FACILITIES DISCUSSION – Reid Anderson – This is the first meeting of the Junction
City School District Facilities Steering Committee. – What I am charged with is helping you
through the process of finding someone to take you through the process of going out for a bond
measure. What this committee is charged with is developing an RFP (Request for Proposal) to
help the district develop short-term and long-term goals for resolving issues brought up in these
meetings and in the facilities assessment that was completed over the summer. We want to
make sure we reach the enthusiastic supporters and those people who are less than enthusiastic
about passing a bond measure in order to see where the community is at in regards to passing a
bond measure in Junction City. What we want to accomplish tonight is getting the answers to a
couple of questions in order for me to understand the personality of this district. That is going to
result in which sort of facilitator the district brings on. This should not be a lengthy process. I
will draft the RFP and we will advertise statewide. What I would like to see is a subcommittee
of this group to do the interviews; you don’t want too large of a group. We don’t have to decide
that now, though. Any questions of me? Leigh – Is it like a bid process? Reid – RFP stands
for ‘Request for Proposal’ and it is basically a request for a person’s qualifications and a
proposal. They have to have certain qualifications to even get the interview.
Reid – Putting the knowledge from this facilities assessment aside, what do you think of the JC
schools? Are you surprised with this assessment? Leigh – I would have thought that it would
have been worse. The maintenance of our facilities has been great; I have been pleased with our
maintenance staff. I work at Laurel and it is an older building, but the maintenance staff has
done an outstanding job in keeping it up. There is a lot that comes with age, and apparently with
our building, wireless internet is not even an option. That is something that might need to
change. Brandon – I have done electrical work in all of the buildings over the last 10 years and
I think I have gotten used to how things are. Oaklea is the most up to date as far as construction
goes, and it is still 30 years old. From the fire department’s standpoint, the east wing of the high
school is a nightmare. A fire could easily become a ‘defensive fire’ which means we won’t even
go in to fight it, we will just let it burn. The west wing isn’t as bad but there are some crawl

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March 10, 2008
spaces that we couldn’t get in to. The same with Laurel. Oaklea has a sprinkler system. All
buildings are functional but there is stuff that needs to be done. Reid – They are in remarkable
shape for the age that they are; they have been taken care of.
Reid – Did this facilities assessment change your opinion of the buildings at all? Craig –
Fifteen years ago there was an earthquake that woke me up. At that time, Molalla School
District had a lot of brick damage. I began to think about the east wing of the high school and
about Laurel. I have done a lot of painting in all of the buildings and that earthquake brought on
some concerns. This assessment reminded me of those concerns. Brandon – There is collapse
potential there. A fire is the same way, if it got out of hand, we would have to worry about
collapse, especially in the east wing. Craig – That is one of the reasons we built a separate
cafeteria. Terry A. – Before I read the facilities assessment I wanted to be involved in helping
facilitate for the growth that is going to occur with all of the new developments and building that
is taking place. Can the schools expand? It doesn’t really seem like they can.
Reid – What would any or all of you or your constituents like to see happen with the JC
schools? Brandon – It would be easier to answer that if we knew what potentially could be
available. Could we replace the schools? Reid – Taking reality out of the questions. What
would you like to see happen? Let’s delay that question.
Reid – Tell me what you know about the personality of the district. By that I mean is the
district (JC Community) by in large concerned about their schools, or is there just a group of
concerned people? Chuck – The community has seen the district being responsible and I
believe know that there are facilities concerns. I think community members are starting to go to
events at other schools in other districts and wondering why Junction City isn’t doing the same
as they are. Why aren’t we getting new buildings or fields? Tonda – Those people who have
gone through the JC school system and now have kids and/or grandkids in the system, know that
the buildings are deteriorating and are more aware of what needs to be done.
Reid – Do you see a lot of that here? Leigh – I think there are a lot of families here who have
gone through the school system. Randy – I don’t necessarily think that they think that. Jill –
Junction City has always been a community that if you have a reasonable plan and can back up
the plan, then they will support it. We are not a frivolous community. I think they have
enormous pride in their schools. I think this is a great process; listening to everyone. I think the
community is really open to this. I am more concerned about the historical significance of the
buildings. The community wants the buildings to be safe and educationally sound; they want to
go to a nice athletic stadium. The schools really are a hub for the community. Chuck – Schools
don’t function the same way that they did when grandma was attending. You can only update
and remodel something until you can’t do it anymore and I think the community understands
this.
Reid – Do you think the community knows that something is brewing? I have certainly seen it
in the paper. Superintendent Rodden-Nord – Yes, it has been in the paper and on our website,
and it is also getting out there through word of mouth. Craig – I have been asked quite a bit
from people about what’s going on. One of the key things that is key is that the schools are the
hub of the community. That is becoming more and more of an issue. The demand is not going
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to get less; it is going to get more. We are getting requests for use of the facilities more and
more. Superintendent Rodden-Nord – They buildings aren’t just used for educational
purposes, the community uses the facilities as well. Craig – Whatever we decide to do, that
should be looked at, and it could be a selling point. Chuck – Have you seen requests outside
our community to use the facilities? Craig – Yes. We have direct use by our people and our
kids, and we have groups that are a mix, and then we have requests by outside groups. We don’t
respond to them as carefully and gently as in-district requests because we don’t have the space.
Chuck – Do you see that changing? Craig – If there was availability and it was a cost savings
to the district, then yes.
Reid – Are the facilities impeding the use of community groups? Jill – I bet the theater would
get used more. Maybe the festival would use it. Reid – You need to be careful about that
because people may not support it because they aren’t members of those groups, so they don’t
want to pay for it. Jill – The community may think that we are looking at this because we have
a capacity issue. We need to clearly state that it is not a capacity issue. It is so important to
delineate what the issues are and what they aren’t. Also, we don’t want to scare people to death
in thinking that if they send their kids to school tomorrow they will die in an earthquake. Chris
– A lot of schools being built now have some sort of community center, and it is built so that
people can’t wander through the rest of the school. Some are also a joint venture with
community groups (like Boys and Girls Club). Craig – We have an interest in taking care of
adult groups and community groups; it only seems natural to do so; but I am not sure how
difficult that would be.
Reid – As the facilitator comes along, they are going to have procedures and will dictate in
producing those procedures. Most of the people in this room have been through the facilitative
process. I would also venture to say that the vast majority of the patrons of this community have
not. It could be a very intimidating process. Are there better ways than facilitative ways? Jill –
A facilitator who comes in and knows it all; I don’t even want to go there. Superintendent
Rodden-Nord – I want to make sure people understand that we have not already come to a
conclusion. I want to see a process that feels open enough so that people can insert their
questions and feel like they are being listened to. Randy – It is also important, as small as
Junction City is, to realize that there are pockets of areas (Cheshire, sheep herders, Christmas
tree farms, grass seed) and they are not necessarily thinking along the same lines as everyone
else. We need to find what is important to everyone and not tell them what we are going to do
and then ask how they feel about it. We want them to feel included in the process. Reid – It
sounds like you want to be careful with the facilitation? Linda – We want someone who can
speak the language of the general public. Some people don’t know what an RFP is or what a
facilitator is. A good example is Peace Health and building River Bend. I have worked on
focus groups there and they are really leaving it open to feedback.
Reid – Will the patrons be offended by a consultant? Superintendent Rodden-Nord – I think
they understand that it makes sense to have someone come in from the outside. Jill – There are
always going to be those people who wonder why you couldn’t do it yourselves. Terry A. – I
think it also depends on how much it is going to cost. If you say that you are going to spend
$300,000 on a consultant, the community may want to know why you don’t use that money to
just fix something.
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Reid – Are you disheartened by the state of the buildings? Not disheartened by the condition
because it seems that they are pretty well maintained. The need for meeting space?
Superintendent Rodden-Nord – Security is a big issue at our buildings. At Territorial we have
classrooms that open to the outside instead of a breezeway. The high school has many entry and
exit points with the multiple buildings. Reid – The program issues- what do you think those
are? Jill – The Laurel cafeteria comes to mind. We are feeding kids too early and too late. The
gym has needed to be replaced for a long time. Chris – Kids are loading and unloading buses
on the streets at Laurel, as well as with parent pick-ups and drop-offs. Oaklea is the same way.
Tom – Oaklea was not designed for parent pick-ups, it was designed for bussed students. Reid
– That seems to be a problem around the state.
Craig – I would like to hear Chris’ take on the reparability of the buildings and what needs to be
repaired. What do you see as you wander around? Chris – There are a lot of things that are
near the end of their life. Right after I started we did have a fire in the east wing and I was
scared to death because of the thinness of the ceiling. I thought we were about ready to have a
new school. The heating and cooling systems are also at the end of their life. The water qualitythe
pipes at Laurel keep plugging up. We are fighting fires and just trying to keep things going
on a daily basis.
Reid – How urgent are the solutions to the issues? Terrie M. – Very urgent. Tonda – Yes,
very urgent. Reid – Do you feel a sense of urgency in solving some of these issues and that
some of the solutions may be replacing some or all of the facilities? Tony – Do you mean all of
the schools or just some of them? Reid – Whatever you think or conclude. I don’t want to put
words into your mouth or the mouths of the community members. Randy – These are really
complex things and it is hard to go to the community, who don’t necessarily see all of these
things, and get an understanding of what the breaking point is. What does inaction cost and at
what point do you wish you would have looked back and made a different decision? We have a
responsibility to not spend money frivolously and also to not blow money down the drain by
continuing to fix up facilities that need to be replaced. Chuck – Are we trying to come up with
one formula for all schools, or a different formula for each school? Reid – I think you will have
to look at different formulas. Chuck – How do you communicate that to the community? Tony
– Just because you need a new cafeteria or gym doesn’t mean you need to replace the whole
school. You need to prove to me (community) that we need a new building and not just a
cafeteria or gym. Reid – That is why you need to find out what the personality is of the
community. Some communities are insistent upon keeping certain parts of certain schools.
Terry A. – I think it is cost versus benefits. How much would it cost to build a new school?
Brandon – Also, when building a new school we need to think about how it can be expanded.
If you don’t take something like this and run with it, the economy deteriorates and the plan gets
thrown away and all the money gets spent and we are left wondering what happened with it.
Reid – One of the things that is going to come up, one of the larger influences on buildings right
now, is energy efficiency and sustainability. How is the building oriented? Where is the sun?
Where do you put the gym? Do you want sunlight in the gym? All of that stuff is going to
come up and there are going to be strong opinions when it comes to that. Superintendent
Rodden-Nord – The lack of insulation and lighting are issues in all buildings. Tom – It seems
to me that the urgency is to find out where the community is on this. Craig – So what is the
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process to find that out? Chuck – Get the right facilitator? Reid – Right. Chuck – Would one
of their responsibilities include conducting a town hall meeting? Reid – That could be. Terry
A. – How do you get the community educated on what the condition is of the buildings? Do
you invite them to look at the buildings? Reid – You can do that, but you need to be careful.
You don’t want to scare people about the state of the buildings, although these buildings are
very well maintained. You can set a fear factor that could be detrimental. You are right though,
you have to let people know the state of the buildings. Jill – We did hold a community meeting
several years ago and the two people who showed up were myself and one other. Do we need to
go out and actively pursue people to attend? Randy – We are going to need to find a way to
reach people who aren’t necessarily connected to community groups. Jill – Maybe we can take
the task on, as a committee, to get five to ten people each involved. Superintendent Rodden-
Nord – One of the things that McKenzie did when they went out for a bond measure was
produced a DVD that showed what may not be seen when you walk through the buildings.
They had multiple copies available, for free, at local drug stores, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.
That is a great way to get information out to the community. Terry A. – Maybe Brandon could
help us understand how the fire department went out and got support for the new fire station.
Brandon – There was a reward for getting a lower ISO rating because the insurance went down.
The reward here would be a better educational experience for kids.
Reid – Would you guess that the patrons are eager to look to the future of education and what
their buildings could do for them? I am hearing from Jill that maybe not. Jill – What I have
always heard is that the community will support what they can afford. My sense is that, if
presented right, this community is willing to pay. You have to have a real good reason for doing
what you are doing. Superintendent Rodden-Nord – I don’t think there is an expectation that
change needs to happen but that schools need to stay the same. Brandon – I think that people
who aren’t going to live here for very long, or don’t have kids or grandkids in schools, are going
to be harder to sell. Chris – You aren’t going to please everyone. Terry A. – From Territorial’s
standpoint, it seems like that is something that we would definitely want to maintain. How do
we make them feel inclusive? Terrie M. – Our biggest concern is staying open; we want to
maintain that. Superintendent Rodden-Nord – So you don’t want to see a mega-elementary
school? Tonda – You are going to get those people asking the question, ‘why aren’t you
combining both elementary schools if you are building a new one?’
Superintendent Rodden-Nord – Is there anything else? Linda – What is the next step? Reid
– I am going to come up with some preliminary questions for the RFP.
The next meeting is scheduled for April 1 st at 6:00 p.m.
III.
ADJOURN
Adjourn at 8:07 p.m.
Superintendent/Clerk
Chair, Board of Directors
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