Grades 6-8 would go to intermediate school, 4-5 to middle school building

The Prescott School Board will see cost estimates at its November meeting on a plan to flip-flop the student bodies at Prescott Middle School and Malone Intermediate School.

Right now, the fourth and fifth grades are housed at the intermediate school, the former high school building at 1220 Saint Croix St. Grades six, seven and eight are in the middle school building at 125 Elm St. N.

The concept isn’t new.

Two district facility studies have made similar recommendations, but at that time, the district wasn’t in a posi- tion to financially make it happen. However, the district now has money in a capital investment fund and could possibly use fund balance as well. In addition, the district will have contractors on site at its building doing work that is part of the district’s $15 million referendum project, with most of the work kicking into gear in the summer.

The school board looked into the proposed change at a work session in late September. At its meeting Oct. 19, they directed Superintendent Dr. Rick Spicuzza to prepare cost estimates by the November meeting, set for Nov. 16 in the Prescott High School library. Spicuzza said a final decision would be needed in December to make sure plans can be put in place to have the building ready for the 2023-24 school year.

Spicuzza said that when Prescott High School was built – it opened in 2016 – the plan to move classes was recommended but not finan cially viable. "We have some unfinished business," he said. "Two separate independent reviews of our district and facilities have identified the middle school is most adept at holding two grade levels and the old high school can obvi ously hold up to four.”

He said the middle school building is de – signed for a capacity of 300, and the district enrollment for grades six-eight in that build- ing has ranged form 278-350 over the years.

"We are below 300, but we are currently using every single room, which interferes with the academic model we have put in place the last few years as we have tried to elevate our schools," said Spicuzza.

STEM — science, technology, engineer – ing and math — programs don't work well in the middle school building, where the room is too small. As the district looks to add new programs in that educational area, the current building would be more confining.

"We're looking at robotics. We're looking at the opportunity for coding. We're looking at the opportunity for expansion of the virtual reality that’s emerging within the educational program," Spicuzza said. "That creates a chal – lenge. We are at a chokehold in regards to how that facility operates for STEM currently or how it would operate in the future.”

If the district keeps the current grade struc – ture, the middle school building would need to be upgraded.

"Our goal is to try to either invest in that and upgrade that facility or take action steps to what would say is to implement plans that had been identified twice by two facility advisory committees and that is to take advantage of the largest space and the Malone Intermediate School and place grades six, seven and eight there," he said. "The reason we were unable to do that in 2016 is we were out of money. We had no additional funds to reconstruct the rooms.”

As part of the referendum funding, work will be done starting in winter break and spring break to remove asbestos and fix dam aged pipes at the middle school building "What we don't have is money to rebuild those classrooms, and understanding that unless we have a decision by the board, we are going to lose the synergy that we have of having professional construction management people on site to be able to redesign those classrooms for grade levels and programming that we currently have but also what we might have in the future," Spicuzza said.

The school board looked at pros and cons. The fourth and fifth grade — at 157 students — could easily be accommodated in the middle school building.

"We would have additional class space. You would still have space for collaboration, fluid groups and flexible groups," said Spicuz za.

Furniture in the building would have to be

upgraded and there would be other costs to re- fitting buildings to grade levels.

"That would have to come from the deci – sions that have been put on pause. We know that's why we built our fund balance," he said.

On the con side, the playground at the mid – dle school for fourth and fifth graders would be the city-owned Public Square Park.

"We know that there are some concerns about playground. It is something we would have to consider. If we're using Public Square Park, there is and are concerns about how we would maintain supervision," he said, noting the city has plans for renovations at the park on the table, including more pickleball courts and more parking.

He thinks the stau can handle any supervi sion issues.

"We do provide supervision now. We have the same kind of cost there. We do have the people. They are out there. They are vigilant," he said.

Board member Tanya Holub said, "The dif – ference is during the school day, schools are not open to the public, but the Public Square Park is. That would be the diuerence." "We obviously would say that's a concern," Spicuzza answered. “Safety is always paramount for us. There are ways that we can part- ner with the city but also steps that we can take that would only further enhance that. We have not ever, to our understanding, in eight years had an issue with our students over there. I do think we have the right amount of people to supervise and strategically close ou the streets like we have to be able to make that viable.

Moving grades six-eight to the current in – termediate building will require bringing some classrooms "up to speed," Spicuzza said.

The administrative team has verified that floorplans would work for the switch. Fifth grade would be on the main floor of the mid – dle school building, fourth grade would be a level up.

Board president Mike Matzek said it's go ing to come down to cost.

"From the work session, I think what I got out of it from the board was cost was the big- gest driving factor. How much was this going to cost and where’s the money coming from? We need stronger numbers on how much this is going to cost to renovate, mainly at the in – termediate school," Matzek said. "Where are we going to draw that money from?”

Board member Pat Block said he'd like to see price options at a couple levels, including what the bare minimum expense to move the classes would be.

The board also asked for an estimate on how much the additional cost would be if the plan is put on hold for a year or two.

"What does the cost look like two years down the road. If it’s not going to happen this summer, it will probably have to wait," said Matzek. "If you're looking for a December decision, we're going to need numbers by the November meeting. Then we have that discus –

sion. December, we can have it on the agen da.”