Liberty Lake officials tour Ponderosa
Liberty Lake Mayor Steve Peterson and council member Judi Owens toured Central Valley School District’s Ponderosa Elementary on Wednesday to educate themselves on the district’s needs and to reinforce the fact that all areas of the district will benefit from the passage of the $75.75 million bond issue on the Nov. 7 ballot.
In March, a $55.2 million construction bond received 57 percent of the 60 percent approval needed to pass. The bond received supermajority support in the Liberty Lake area, where two new schools were proposed, but only a few precincts on the west side of the district, where Ponderosa is located, offered the same support.
The amount of the bond on the November ballot is $20 million more because of inflation and escalating building costs.
“I’m a big regionalist. What’s good for one area of the district is good for all areas of the district,” said Peterson. “When people are considering moving to the area they want to know how good are the schools and the roads, not what are the taxes.”
If the bond passes, Ponderosa will have a complete renovation. The school’s interior will be modernized. It will be more efficient, technically up-to-date, and walls and windows will be added.
Ponderosa was one of the school district’s five open-concept schools built in the 1970s. These schools were known as “schools without walls” and they were considered cutting edge at the time. But the concept doesn’t meet the needs of today’s students.
Third-grade teacher Sharon Olson, who gave the tour, said that without walls the noise levels at Ponderosa are distracting, heating and ventilation systems are uneven, wiring for technology is a problem and there are no windows.
“Everyone should have a window to look out of,” said Peterson.
Opportunity Elementary, a 38-year-old school on the west side of the district, will also be completely renovated and two classrooms will be added.
In addition to the renovations of these two schools, an elementary school and middle school will be constructed to ease overcrowding in the Liberty Lake area on the district’s east end.
Plans to remodel Greenacres Elementary will have to wait until state modernization reimbursement funds are available, which could be in 2010 or later. Any remaining state aid would be used for improvements at six additional elementary schools.
Central Valley patron Dale Hackney is in favor of the construction bond, and he was shocked and disappointed when it failed last time.
In an e-mail to The Spokesman-Review, Hackney wrote, “I believe that many people voted against the building bond because so much of the money was going to Liberty Lake. I think the district needs to hammer on the school remodeling, which involves a greater area of CV.”
Hackney said that many people think that since Liberty Lake is a separate city it should have its own schools, and they question why the poorer areas of the district should be building them new schools.