By Dave Vrbas

The Wauneta Breeze

Sometimes if you don’t spend some money, you could end up losing more than you save.

Faced with locker rooms in dire need of repair and upgrades, as well as a pair of gym lobby bathrooms falling apart, the Wauneta-Palisade school board officially decided Monday night to pay some experts to come take a look at the situation, gather the necessary plans and figures, and get the ball rolling on some renovation and reorganization.

Superintendent Nelson Dahl and board member Bill Bischoff met earlier that day to take a walk through the building and map out a plan in their heads — one that would be both economical and require the least disturbance of load-bearing walls, as well as eliminate the need for much more additional construction.

Dahl explained that he and Bischoff discussed and acknowledged the current nationwide financial crisis, but said the WP board is very fortunate to be in the financial position right now where they may need to spend some capital project funds to continue to maximize the state aid the district receives.

With the reserve fund growing by roughly a half-million dollars in the past year, Dahl said he doesn’t want the district to get in a situation where they are forced to lower the asking levy beneath a point that would result in adverse consequences.

The district already boasts one of the lowest levies statewide, but a further lowering of the current near 95-cent levy could have an adverse effect on future state aid granted to the district as well as cost the district those levy funds.

“I’m not a guy who likes to spend money unnecessarily,” Dahl said. “In fact, quite contrary. I’d like to see the district save even more. We’re in a rare situation though where we’ve received enough grant funding to relieve some pressure on the general fund, and this might be the time to do some renovation and reorganization.”

Dahl and Bischoff went over their preliminary plans using a current school blueprint to illustrate which parts of the building would be impacted.

After hearing their ideas and agreeing that the locker room updates have been put off for far too long, the board voted to approve no more than $15,000 for Jerry Joy and Cristy Joy of Architecture Etcetera to draw up some plans for the remodel and reorganization.

The board previously had a three-phase plan drawn up by the same firm in 2006 that proposed an addition on the north and east sides of the Wauneta gym and incorporated new locker rooms, six new classrooms, restrooms, and a new kitchen and commons area. The three-phase proposal came with a price tag of nearly $9 million and went unapproved.

Detailed by Dahl and Bischoff was a plan that kept all current load-bearing walls in place and simply required some in-house construction and remodeling. Board members agreed the plan was solid and felt the architects could work with what was proposed.

In their idea for the reorganization of the very north end of the Wauneta Attendance Center building, Bischoff said the hallway on the north side of the gym would need to be eliminated to make room for the existing girls locker room to be expanded into that area. The coach’s locker room would also be extended out into that hallway and accessible by the by the gym’s north door. It would be used as a visitors’ locker room.

The concrete staircase in that hallway, which leads up to a sports storage area, would have to remain and would be accessible through the newly enlarged and renovated girls locker room.

The existing boys locker room would be kept the same size but renovated, as would all the locker rooms at the Palisade Attendance Center.

Both bathrooms just off the east gym lobby in Wauneta have been settling so much in recent years that the windows are difficult to completely close. In the proposed plan detailed in Monday night’s meeting, the north bathroom, currently a womens’ restroom, would be renovated and made into an officials’ locker room.

The small office used by the guidance counselor would be removed and that larger hallway area turned into a commons area. The guidance counselor’s office would then be moved to the current teacher’s lounge room just off the north side of the gym, giving her more room to work with students.

Eliminating the curtain wall constructed a couple years ago in the computer lab, board members believe Mr. Behrends could utilize some of his band room, office and practice room space for those computers since there are far fewer needed with so many laptops now being used at the school.

The math room could be moved to the current computer lab and the wall that runs along the south side of the gym would be extended through the current math room to connect with a mens and womens restroom and the gym lobby.

The proposed pass-through area would be ideal for the home crowd as it would eliminate people having to walk on the gym playing floor as they return to their seats from the concession area.

As for the current math room, since it would be significantly smaller due to the hallway passing through its north half, it would be repurposed as a teacher’s work area.

Also in the plan, and hopefully aided by some funds from Nebraska Public Power District, are new energy-efficient lights for both the Wauneta and Palisade attendance centers, as well as air conditioning.

“We can hope for the help from NPPD,” Dahl said. “And if we get it, great. If we don’t get it, it’s still something that needs to be done.”

Reorganization completed

With no new board members coming in or outgoing, the school board reorganized Monday night and voted to keep all board seats and committee assignments the same for the next year.

Offices are as follows: Jon Anderjaska, board president; Stuart Bartels, board vice president; Brenda Anderson, board secretary; Allison Sandman, board treasurer.

Committeee assignments remained the same and are printed as follows:

• Negotiations: Allison Sandman, Stuart Bartels, John Jutten.

• Transportation: Stuart Bartels and Bill Bischoff.

• Building and grounds: Brenda Anderson and Bill Bischoff.

• Budget: Brenda Anderson and Allison Sandman.

• Teacher/Personnel: Brenda Anderson and Allison Sandman.

• Instruction/Americanism/Technology: Allison Sandman, Jon Anderjaska, Stuart Bartels.

Also at the meeting

During the meeting, the school board also:

• Approved the switch from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) to Terra Nova for the state-mandated national standards test. Terra Nova is currently being used in Lincoln and Omaha and board members would like to see WP students measured by the same standard.

• Discussed building a new bus barn on the east side of the Palisade Attendance Center gym, since the downtown bus barn has too many costly repairs needed to sustain it for use. A party has come forth with interest in purchasing that downtown bus barn building.

• Voted to accept estimates for lawn care and athletic field maintenance at both attendance centers for the upcoming season.

• Affirmed the appointments of Marj Rundback and DeAnn Davis as secretaries at the Wauneta and Palisade attendance centers, respectively.

• Approved the dismissal of school for elementary students on Wednesday, Feb. 10 for a spelling bee in Palisade, and district-wide on Tuesday, March 9 for district speech in Wauneta.

• Discussed the possibility of implementing a more effective academic enrichment program for grades 7-12, with personalized education plans for students in those grades.

• Designated Dahl as the authorized designee for state, federal and other programs on behalf of the district.

• Announced the receipt of a check from HomeTown Agency in the amount of $3,472.35 for water damage at Palisade, including staff wages incurred from the cleanup.

• Announced that the fence at the Palisade Attendance Center was recently installed by Troy Skelton of Wauneta. “It was very well done and we are very satisfied,” Dahl said of the new fence.

• Proudly announced the receipt of two new grants. The first, $36,720 from the American Recovery and Relief Act (ARRA) to be used in special education.