School safety and security top priority for Swan Valley School

SWAN VALLEY – The Swan Valley School board prioritized the list for facility security, safety and maintenance at their June 19 meeting. Topping the list was school safety and security closely followed by a water cooler and bottle filler for the main school and building insulation. The board voted to start getting estimates to address the recommendations from staff to create a main portal for the school.

Board Chair John Mercer told the board they have a maintenance fund pool of $50,000 and he wanted to set priorities. He went back through the last three years and listed projects the board had discussed.

“I think we need to make some choices. Once we get that prioritized and see what those totals look like we can talk about it a little bit. It gives us a place to start,” said Mercer. “Otherwise we keep talking about one thing and we aren’t really looking at the big picture. I think this allows us to say ok this is what it looks like.”

Each of the four board members were given 10 dots to vote on the list of facility maintenance and security needs. School security was number one with twice the number of dots than any other item on the list.

At a previous meeting, Swan Valley School secretary Katie Gleason presented the board with the school safety committee and staffs’ requests to have a door at the south end of the main building with windows looking into the parking lot. They also requested public traffic be ‘blocked’ to the gym and junior high wing except during special events.

“We want to address the concerns that the teachers have, that the safety committee has and what makes sense for the school,” said Mercer. “It’s not just about school security but it is also about efficiency.”

Mercer said what resonated with him was Gleason’s concern about sitting in the main office and not being able to see who was coming into the building until they had entered. Because the visitor did not have to pass through the main office to gain access to the rest of the school there was no way to control access.

The board discussed moving the main office to the south end of the building into the current kindergarten – second grade classroom. This, along with a lockable gate to the gym and barriers to the walkway, would create a portal and main entrance to the school that all public would pass through allowing the secretary to control access.

Different ideas were presented on how the main office space could be used to avoid a major remodel. The board agreed these options would be presented to the staff for their feedback but they would initially proceed with the project assuming the office, break room and server room would remain intact.

The board discussed how changing the main entrance of the school to the south end of the building would change the current entrance on the west side. After much discussion and input from teachers present at the meeting, they decided it could be left intact and used by the students and staff. The doors would remain locked to the outside but still freely allow students to leave the building. It could be used as an entrance when with a teacher or staff with a key.

Teacher Jamie Matthew asked if the water cooler and bottle filler could be included in the project since that would eliminate 99 percent of the traffic between buildings that currently occurs without teacher supervision. The board agreed to include that as part of the remodel since the only water cooler and bottle filler currently available is in the gym.

The board created an itemized list of what they wanted for the remodel: Main double access door and at least three windows installed on the south wall; a covered entry way; lockable gate and walkway barrier for the junior high/gymnasium building; electrical allowance and lighting for the entry; snow stops for the junior high/gymnasium roof; water cooler and bottle filler; and storage and counter space for the office.

The board unanimously approved a $400 allowance for someone to provide an estimate. They will contact various contractors and see who is interested and available. Because they don’t have the budget to go over $80,000, they don’t have to put the project out to bid.

Other maintenance items on the list in order of the priority determined by the board included: insulation; junior high east exterior wall and new windows; school sign; gym hot water heater; junior high classroom door to science lab and the reader board. The board agreed to wait on the rest of the list to get the cost estimate for the front remodel and then see what would fit in the budget.

Prior to setting priorities, Mercer informed the board the current junior high electric boiler is still working. Replacing the boiler would cost about $10,000 if it fails. District Clerk Heather Mincey said they can use the $38,000 reserve funds to cover the cost of replacing the boiler because it would be deemed an unanticipated expense. This would keep them from going over budget if the boiler did fail.

In other business:

• The School completed their audit. Mercer said overall it was a very “glowing audit report.”

• 21st century grant was approved again for next year.

• The board voted unanimously to offer music teacher Katie Wright a contract as an independent contractor from Oct. 1, 2019 – May, 2020 at the same rate as last year.

• The board unanimously approved Mercer’s request to send a letter from the Swan Valley Elementary school board to various local agencies, representatives, Montana’s Congressional delegation and Chief of the Forest Service Chip Weber requesting intervention by either eliminating the Holland Lake Day Use fees or reinstating the agreement that allowed the Swan Valley Community Foundation to purchase 300 passes per year at a reduced rate. The Foundation learned in a letter dated May 7 that the number of passes was reduced by 33 percent in 2019 and will be eliminated in 2020.

The School Board’s next meeting will be held at July 9 at 7 p.m. at the Swan Valley Elementary School.