Eddyville.Org

In Dr. Cook’s presentation to the school board on March 22, he made the following statement on future building changes:  “Though it has been suggested to build a new MS building, we need to get a better grip on our incoming numbers before those decisions can be addressed.  We do know our numbers continue to decline.  What we don’t know is how quickly these numbers will force us into additional changes.  We are looking at this time to purchase mobile classrooms.  We will continue to look at consolidation as numbers come in.  We would use the north wing of the HS for the MS.  We are cognizant of the challenges faced by MS students as they enter a HS facility, so therefore we are looking at a bell schedule, lunch schedule and we research best practice for this possible transition.”

The Cost Savings Committee members approach or guiding principle in weighing the pros and cons of making certain budget cuts was that they must make sure that the school district will remain attractive to other communities.  They believed that in the long term the school buildings in the district “should be viewed to best position Eddyville-Blakesburg with possible consolidation in the future.”  And they also stated that the E-B school district needed to “be pro-active to make sure we do not become the district (which) is split.”

The Cost Savings Committee believed that if the middle school was going to be moved from Blakesburg to Eddyville, then there should be a new permanent building on the high school campus which would be for the middle school students; and some of the high school facilities would also be shared with the middle school. Dr. Cook believes that instead of a new building, the present high school building should be utilized plus additional mobile unit classrooms should be added in back of the school.   

Which of the above two approaches do you think would be more attractive to outside communities?  Which would be more attractive to families moving to the area?  Which would be more attractive to students from other school districts to open-enroll in our district?  I believe the answer is obvious.  The opposite question would be:  which approach would promote a decrease in enrollment.  Again, I believe the answer is obvious.  In one approach we are likely to gain additional students; and in the other approach, we are likely to lose students.

When we talk of other communities that may want to merge or consolidate their school district with the E-B district, I believe that there is only one adjoining district where that is possible, and that is Fremont.  While we may gain additional students from Fremont, we may also lose students from Blakesburg if the wrong approach is taken.  If the middle school is moved to Eddyville, it needs to be a facility that will attract students to the area.  If the middle school is not attractive, parents of students at both Blakesburg and Fremont have other choices.

I believe the approach that has been taken with the Blakesburg community has been a negative approach or it might be better described as a take it or leave type of approach. The proposal to move the middle school and to crowd the BAC grade school classes into the middle school was not discussed with the community ahead of time.  The Blakesburg parent teacher organization had some good ideas on how to reduce costs, but they were not consulted.

Almost everyone agrees, and this includes Eddyville students and parents, that we presently have a very good middle school.  So if we are going to move the middle school, then it should be to a better facility.  To borrow a phrase from the movie the Field of Dreams:  “If you build it, they will come.”  

How can the E-B School District afford to build a new building when it is trying to reduce its budget?  The school budget is broken down into various funds.  The budget crunch is in the general fund account which deals with direct educational costs and is more or less funded and controlled by the State.  Even though the school has a large cash reserve it cannot spend that money in the general fund area.  However, the money can be spent on facilities – new facilities, major building improvements or infrastructure.  The Albia school district is also experiencing the same type of budget problems with its general fund account, yet they are going ahead with school building improvements worth seven million dollars in construction costs.  State sales tax money is available to fund such projects, and the E-B middle school building would not come close to that amount of money being spent by Albia.  Hmmm, the Albia school system may look very attractive to the Blakesburg community in the next two years.

I am closing this blog with a review or breakdown by school of the present student enrollment in the E-B school district and then projecting the student population for the middle school and high school for the next seven years.  The projection is based on the assumption that there will be no loss or gain of students in the seven year period.

Number of Students by grade – comparison between EEAC, BAC & Fremont

Eddyville-Blakesburg School District

Projected # of MS & HS Students by Year (Based on FY 2009-2010 Enrollment)

It appears that for the fiscal year of 2011-2012, the middle school will have its lowest number of students and the high school will have its lowest number in 2013-2014.  The above numbers were based on the present enrollment remaining the same, but in reality there will be some loses and gains.  Plus I did not account for new students coming into the system at the preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade levels.  I noticed in today's paper that there is an advertisement for preschool students to enroll in the E-B Schools. 

Whatever the school board decides on the important issue of moving the middle school will greatly affect the growth or decline of student enrollment in the Eddyville-Blakesburg School District for the future.  There will be a school board meeting tonight at 6:00 p.m. at the cafeteria in the high school with an open forum to allow public input on the issue of moving the middle school to the high school.