By Mike Malloy
Staff Writer
There was outrage when the Ames Community School District closed Roosevelt Elementary School. Discussion of moving Fellows Elementary School caused people to speak out at Monday’s school board meeting. And when the district decided to move Edwards Elementary School there was … not much of anything.The district’s elementary school plan calls for Edwards, Ames’ smallest elementary with 278 students as of early November, to move from 3622 Woodland Ave. to vacant property on Miller Avenue in southwest Ames.
The board has handed off the plan to a community committee for further input. That committee could recommend changes to the plan, which the board hopes to approve in January or February, but given the silence on Edwards the move appears all but certain.
“There hasn’t been a lot of reaction,” said Megan Jurgens, co-president of the Edwards Parent-Teacher Organization. “People are accepting of the change.”
Until his election two months ago, school board member Rodney Briggs was just a father of three concerned about how the loss of his neighborhood school would affect his kids. Briggs, who lives three blocks from Edwards, now takes a larger view of the issue, saying he wants to represent the best interests of the entire district. Factoring out emotions, Briggs said it was clear that Miller Avenue is a better location.
“Most people are in agreement that it really doesn’t work the way it is,” Briggs said. “The site was too small. There was nowhere to expand but up and up is not the best way to expand. The bulk of the kids in that particular zone of town are further and further away from where they once were.
“Some of those homes in that area that are currently being used as rental property are transitioning back to family but not to the degree that I feel based on our current situation makes enough of an impact.”
One possible reason for the shoulder shrugging is the extended timeline. StruXture’s outline calls for phased construction. The new school on Miller Avenue is second in line, and it is estimated it will be completed by the summer of 2016. If that happens, first-graders currently at Edwards would complete elementary school before the switch. Most of the students affected by the move are now not old enough to attend Edwards and haven’t become attached to the school.
There are also numerous ifs – the board must approve the plan as is, a bond referendum must be petitioned in February and then approved by voters in April, the order of phasing would need to remain the same, and construction would have to be completed on time.
School board president Dan Woodin, a board member since 2008, said he heard little reaction when the idea was proposed.
“They’re agreeable to the change,” Woodin said. “Their main concern, just like everywhere, is what’s going to become of the property and when’s it going to happen.”
Briggs said he and others in the neighborhood would like to see the site turned into a park. Facilities and Planning Director Gerry Peters suggested selling the property once the new school is built. He estimated that its market value, as-is with no demolition of the building, is $150,000.
Woodin said the district would also consider retaining the school once the move is finalized.
Source: http://amestrib.com/articles/2011/11/27/ames_tribune/news/doc4ed03b02e796e450812508.txt
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