AASD leader: Expand Pleasant Valley school
Prijatelj says plan would work best for taxpayers, students
Superintendent Charles Prijatelj prepared the school board on Tuesday for his recommendation regarding new elementary school construction, which is to expand the Pleasant Valley Elementary School.
It’s a different direction than the board’s tentative plan to build a school at Keith Field starting in 2018, which was the plan submitted to the state Department of Education in May.
But Prijatelj enumerated the pros and cons of four different options during a board work session on Tuesday, and building on Pleasant Valley was his recommendation because it stood out as the best for taxpayers and students, he said.
“My reasoning is simple. This option minimizes the impact on taxpayers and maximizes the positive impact on students. It is economical and it solves the educational issues we have,” he said.
The previous school board, acting without a permanent superintendent, closed two schools in 2013; as a result, enrollment at the remaining eight elementary schools in years since has exceeded capacity. The capacity issue has been explained by architects, confirmed by principals — including a couple on Tuesday — and witnessed by board members who visited schools.
Expanding Pleasant Valley would not only provide more classrooms, but it would also provide more equity in terms of demographic distribution, Prijatelj said. Ultimately, the desire to achieve a more even demographic distribution was an underlying reason the previous board closed two schools stacked with low-income kids in 2013.
There are a lot of “moving parts” that would result from expanding Pleasant Valley Elementary. Enrollment at Penn Lincoln Elementary in the heart of the city would be spread out among the six schools in the suburbs, Prijatelj said.
Expanding Pleasant Valley is also $9 million less than building a new school on Keith Field, according to KCBA architect Mike Kelly.
The total cost of expanding Pleasant Valley and constructing a new high school building would be $104 million, Kelly said.
Building a new high school building is half of the solution to the elementary capacity issue — but only half, Kelly said.
A new high school would allow all sixth-graders to move to the current Junior High School, making it a middle school. The move from K-6 to K-5 elementary schools would provide more classroom capacity, but in order to ensure enough rooms in each school for designated art, music and special education rooms, more construction is required, he said.
Although Prijatelj favors expanding Pleasant Valley, the seven board members present for Tuesday’s work session listed pros and cons of other options, as well.
Expanding Logan Elementary instead of Pleasant Valley, building a new school at Keith Field, or not pursuing an elementary construction project at all are other options the board may consider.
Mirror Staff Writer Russ O’Reilly is at 946-7435.
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