The Beaver Dam Unified School Board has some decisions to make about its oldest school, Beaver Dam Middle School, and is looking at surveying the district residents to find out what they see for the future of the school.
Anne-Marie Malkovich, director of business services for the Beaver Dam Unified School District, presented the five-year facility plan update to the Beaver Dam Unified School Board during its meeting on Monday.
“We’re at a point where we have to make some critical decisions about district facilities and our direction for the future,” Malkovich said.
The initial plan was approved in July 2019 and based on a facility plan that was done for the district. The plan has been adjusted and the board has met at least once a year to discuss the facilities for the next five years.
The district has been allocating $50,000 each year to take care of issues at the middle school, but Malkovich said that it was not enough to deal with the needs of the 100-year-old building.
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“The district is not able to address all its facility needs within its existing budget,” Malkovich said.
The Lincoln and Wilson elementary schools are over 60 years old and Jefferson and Washington are over 70 years old, Malkovich said.
“The district made significant investments in Lincoln and Jefferson over the last few summers, and we did do some key upgrades at Washington,” Malkovich said.
Prairie View Elementary, the district’s newest school, is over 20 years old and needs preventative maintenance, Malkovich said.
Washington, in addition to maintenance needs, has a boiler that needs to be replaced, Malkovich said. The district playgrounds need work as well as building flooring and parking lots. Several HVAC units also need to be replaced.
“The middle school is 100 years old,” Malkovich said. “The campus is really small with really no ability to increase the campus space. There is very little green space to support programming whether it is instructional classes or extracurricular activities. There are some safety concerns with the location. It is near some busy streets and the way the traffic flow is set up it is not ideal, especially in the morning when parents and buses are dropping off kids and at night when they are picking them up.”
The study, which was done four years ago, suggested the following improvements: Replacing windows and Univents; upgrading controls to direct digital controls; plumbing repairs; replacing power distribution panels and conductors; replacing four rooftop units; replacing boiler pumps; lighting upgrades; repairs to masonry; replacing carpentry and ceiling tiles; and replacing lockers and renovating the auditorium.
“The significant maintenance needs cannot be timely corrected with the resources we have,” Malkovich said. “It is estimated it will be between $5 and $6 million with how you would want to do those replacements and as inflation continues to grow that price continues to rise.”
At some point, there is a need to look at alternative funding sources, such as a referendum for the middle school needs, Malkovich said. There is the question of whether it would be better to upgrade and repair the current building or if it would make sense to build a new building.
The district is recommending an upgraded analysis be done this summer with costs of facility needs focused on the middle school, as well as to look at the possibility of repairing the school over several years, Malkovich said. In the fall of 2022, the recommendation is to also partner with a firm to complete a survey to gather information about a possible referendum. Results of the survey could be back in November.
Board member Lisa Panzer asked what the current timeline was for the repayment for the debt from the 2016 referendum upgrading Beaver Dam High School.
Malkovich said that the last payments will come due around 2036.
Board member Marg Jorgensen asked about the cost for the study, which would be between $20,000 and $35,000.
JoAnne Tyjeski asked about looking at some of the elementary schools.
“I don’t think it is cost prohibitive to add that piece in,” Beaver Dam Unified School District Superintendent Mark DiStefano said.