Jasper elementary school facilities too small and not up to standards according to study
Jasper — Jasper Consolidated School Corporation’s three elementary schools are too small for their current student populations according to a study completed by Gibraltar Design of Indianapolis.
The study results were presented to three members of the school board, principals of the elementary schools, and school corporation representatives at a special meeting held last night.
According to architect Jim Thompson with the firm, the corporation’s current elementary school building sizes are significantly smaller than the recommended size guidelines from the Department of Education. Fifth Street has 68,700 square feet; 14,000 square feet below what it needs given its student population. Tenth Street has 87,580 square feet; 8,000 square feet below what it needs. Ireland has 67,560 square feet; 13,300 square feet below what it needs.
These numbers were reported despite the fact the student populations at Fifth Street and Tenth Street are lower than they have been historically. The population at Ireland Elementary, however, is in a growing pattern, which the school corporation has acknowledged is a concern.
The most significant statement by Thompson during his presentation was that none of the three elementary schools meets student needs. According to Thompson, the learning areas at the elementary schools are functionally challenged and not up to current standards. Additionally, most of the spaces are below Department of Education guidelines for the State of Indiana.
The overall observation by Gibraltar Design is that Greater Jasper School Corporation appears to be at a crossroads regarding future elementary school facility needs.
The firms options to address the problems presented did not include plans to keep Tenth Street Elementary facility due to its location and the high cost of expanding the current facility limiting available options.
Additionally, expansion of Fifth Street is limited as well due to the requirement to use large chunks of the parking lot in the rear of that facility for any expansion.
Ireland currently holds the most promise for expansion and the population growth in that area tends to support the spending of taxpayer money for a large scale development of the facility.
Gibraltar Designs’ initial suggestions for expansion all included the need to have each elementary school use their facilities to educate grades K through 5 – not the current split use of facilities that exists now.
But the board members in attendance asked for options that included incremental expansion growth at Fifth and Ireland Elementary Schools with an option to build a new elementary school on new property – which Thompson said would require 20 acres of property. Property that the school currently does not own.
Board member Mike Braun asked if “15 acres at a minimum” would do – in reference to the school corporation’s desire to buy 15 acres of property of the former golf course property from the City of Jasper. The question drew big laughs from all attendees but Thompson said, ‘yes’, at a minimum.
After the meeting, Dr. Lorey put the meeting in perspective by saying that they are “not just looking at it in terms of the size of student enrollment, but also looking at it in terms of what programmatically elementary education looks like in the 21st Century.”
Lorey said that the work that Gibraltar has done so far is very important to the process. “We truly appreciate Gibraltar Design’s professionalism in looking at all of those aspects in trying to come up with some recommendations that help us to be prudent with our taxpayer dollars but also to be visionary in ensuring that we’re providing our kids with the best possible options educationally.”
The next step is for Gibraltar Designs to work on and submit a final set of recommendations to the school study group to be taken up in a later meeting.
Thompson recommended steps to make the changes to the elementary schools within a two year time frame. However, Board member Mike Braun acknowledged that getting a referendum for the expansion on the ballot would take longer than two years recommended; forcing the school system to have to deal with tight space issues longer than they would like.
