Prescott School District Communications Specialist

On Wednesday, April 29, the five members of Prescott School District’s school board held a work session to discuss SDS Architect’s facility proposals that address four of its key priorities: creating safe, secure and controlled entranceways, maintaining the structural and operational integrity of its buildings, determining best grade configuration per building, and optimizing physical spaces to support programming and the district’s current academic model.

Last summer, SDS conducted an initial indepth facility study of Malone Elementary, Malone Intermediate, and Prescott Middle School and submitted a summary of findings to the board in August 2019. Its summary included requisite maintenance to address: roof replacement, electrical upgrades, plumbing, and HVAC and ADA/Safety requirements upgrades. SDS also identified shortcomings with regard to room designs and poor amenities to meet some of the secondary curricular programs at Prescott Middle School.

The results of the facilities study is a major component of the board’s (Mike Matzek, Steve Sizemore, Pat Block, Tanya Holub, and Vicki Rudolph) ongoing directive to develop a 10-year master facility plan for the district that coincides with its strategic direction to provide fiscally responsible investments in learning and work environments through ongoing facilities, staffing, and program planning, and safe and secure buildings.

“Part of our duties as a school board is to evaluate our facilities and discuss maintenance needs along with potential improvements. We are beginning our fifth year as a four-building district and we have learned a lot about what is working for us, as well as identified areas that we think we can improve upon. The conceptual designs and optimization suggestions that SDS has presented will help us greatly as we continue to refine options for our district's long-range plan. We are looking forward to bringing these options to the community for more input,” commented Board President Matzek. He emphasized that in order to be a high-quality district that retains and attracts new families, the board has immediate and long-term planning decisions to frame-up for public feedback.

Prior to the work session, board members identified top priorities that include providing safe and secure entrances and maintaining the district’s buildings. Closely following prerogatives were creating learning spaces for students and programming that keep the best interest of our students, staff, and families at the forefront of all decisions.

Wednesday’s work session gave the board a focused time to consider SDS’s conceptional options shared at April 2nd’s work session: safe and secure entranceways, MIS parent and bus drop-off and pick-up locations and flow, best grade reconfiguration per building, and creation of improved learning environments that were consistent with PSD academic models by grade level.

At the end of the work session, the board identified the next steps and shared understandings.

• Request further integration of August infrastructure costs with April conceptual designs to eliminate redundancy in cost estimates

•Discuss with SDS on methods to update the Prescott community and employees to review these conceptual designs

•Clarify multiple methods and ways to obtain feedback and comments from our community and stakeholders.

• Begin to outline Phase III timeline of a community survey

• Develop cost models and best funding options to address these projects

• Board action in future board meetings “We greatly value the ongoing support the community has shown the district and our educators. Even in these uncertain times, the important work of the board to plan and provide high-quality instruction in a safe and productive learning environment must go on,” stated district superintendent, Dr. Rick Spicuzza.