Lc High Renovation On Wish List District 81’S $67 Million Plan Adds Computers At All Schools

In the next three months, Spokane School District 81 will ask the public to evaluate a $67 million wish list that puts more computers in every school and renovates Lewis and Clark High School.

Superintendent Gary Livingston unveiled the plan at Wednesday night’s school board meeting.

“This is a first glimpse,” said Livingston, indicating the 14-project list hasn’t been finalized.

A series of community meetings will be held, starting in March, to gauge public reaction to the proposals, Livingston said.

“This is the information-gathering phase,” said Laurine Jue, district spokeswoman.

If the facilities improvement plan is approved by the school board, voters should see a $67 million bond issue on the ballot in early 1998.

Topping the list at $34 million is renovation of Lewis and Clark High. The state would cover $15 million of that cost. Another $9 million is already in the district’s capital projects fund.

The district also wants to spend $25 million on technology, including computers and accessories, and electrical system upgrades at all schools.

As drafted, the bond issue would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $46 per year in additional property taxes.

“That’s not much considering what it will do for the boys and girls of Spokane,” said Walt Rulffes, associate superintendent of management services.

Livingston said the district owns more than $300 million in land and buildings, which must be maintained.

“Just like your home, if you don’t keep up with the maintenance and the modernization it becomes overwhelming,” he said.

Livingston said the proposed cost to homeowners is a compromise between “what is fair to taxpayers and what is fair to children.”

Board members were told Wednesday that 85-year-old Lewis and Clark High’s foundation is fine but its heating, ventilation and electrical systems are antiquated.

Steve McNutt, a Spokane architect, described the proposed renovation that would preserve the integrity of the historic building. McNutt is the co-chair of a committee recommending remodeling of the school.

Livingston told board members that now is the time to push the issue of new technology for schools.

In 1994, Spokane voters defeated a $30 million computer levy.

Back then, Livingston said, “There were a lot of unanswered questions as to whether all of our teachers were trained, whether we could do repairs.

“Three years later, other smaller districts are passing much higher computer levies. Our kids have to be competitive for college or work,” he said.

Other major school improvements being proposed include:

$4.5 million to replace Browne Elementary School.

$6 million to modernize Rogers High School.

$3 million for an addition to North Central High School.

$3 million for a bigger gym at Garry Middle School.

$3 million to upgrade phone and communication systems at all schools.

In other business, the Spokane School Board named Suzanne Vingelen, a first-grade teacher at Stevens Elementary School, and Glenn Williams, an English teacher at Lewis and Clark High, as Distinguished Teachers for the second quarter of the 1996-97 school year.

, DataTimes