Quincy schools tackle growth
Portables handle short-term issues
QUINCY — Instead of transitioning to Monument Elementary School this fall, third grade students at George Elementary School are staying at George another year.
The planned change is just one way the Quincy School District is accommodating growth in the short term while planning new schools.
"Our enrollment's going up, so it's starting to create some problems," District Superintendent Roger Fox said.
In addition to keeping children at George an extra year, the district increased classroom capacity in the district by purchasing three used portables from Cashmere School District. Monument, George and Mountain View Elementary schools are each getting a portable.
Fox said the three portables create an additional six classrooms for the schools, and they are likely going to be full in the coming school year.
To handle the growth long-term, the district is in the beginning stages of planning a new high school and elementary school.
The estimated cost of the new high school is $45 million, Fox said.
"That's kind of scary," Fox said. "The flip side of that is it's a good tax base and it's getting better all the time that it probably won't mean much of a raise at all to the individual taxpayers."
Industry coming in should be covering most of the cost, he said.
Because of the planning involved and the time it takes to pass a bonds proposal, the high school might take five years to construct, Fox said. The earliest he anticipated the board would run a bonds proposal is February 2008.
District staff are working to secure locations for the schools. The district signed purchase options for two sites: a 152-acre site one mile south of the city off highway 281, and a 67-acre site at Central and Road 11. The sites would be funded through voter-approved bonds.
The district agreed to purchase all 152 acres from two connected parcels in order to have the option to purchase, Fox said.
"It's more than what we needed, but at least we have options now," he said.