Eugene School District 4J board asks for feedback on future of old North Eugene High School

Eugene School District 4J board members weighed their options at this week's meeting on what to do with the original North Eugene High School building. While the discussion did not reveal any solid decision of whether to tear it down or repurpose it one thing is clear: the board wants more public input.

4J is constructing the new NEHS on the west end of the school property, where the Silver Lea building and old high school softball field were located. Students are still attending classes in the original building until construction is complete and the new school opens this fall.

As the board continues to seek input, here is what could happen if the building is kept, demolished or partly kept.

What if the building is kept?

If the original building is repurposed, 4J estimates a cost of $30 million in deferred building maintenance, district standard upgrades and city system development charges. According to board documents, this initial estimate does not include any renovations or building modifications for a new program.

This option would also leave NEHS with about half of the field area of other district high schools.

The original plan was to renovate the building for use by other programs, in particular, Kelly Middle School and Yujin Gakuen Japanese Immersion School, which are housed together less than a mile away from NEHS. The Kelly/YG building has faced serious structural problems in recent years; however, a move to NEHS has looked less likely with rising remodel costs.

Board members asked what conversations have been had with Kelly/YG recently and what their expectations are.

Board chair Maya Rabasa said she has heard from community members in Kelly and YG who feel there are promises not being kept.

"I know in many ways the two issues, Kelly and YG, (are) connected to North," said 4J Superintendent Andy Dey. "It can't be forgotten that if we are going to keep the existing North building up there would be considerable costs associated with that. We would need to put a new roof on, and I just don't frankly know if we have the money to do that and then do any remodeling.

"I don't want to make any false promise to any school community."

The district has not fully discussed whether the original NEHS building would be useful to Kelly/YG. Board member Michelle Hsu said high schools often have different structural components that wouldn't serve a middle or elementary school.

"It's really difficult to say that fixing it the way it stands is going to be useful for any other organization or school, and I think that's a really big consideration," said Hsu.

Board members asked for more details on what the Kelly/YG stakeholders think about using the building.

What if the building is demolished?

Demolishing the original school and replacing it with fields is estimated to cost $12 million.

This option would add two grass soccer-sized fields, bringing the new NEHS field area in alignment with other district high schools. It would also make improvements to the site's safe routes to school, according to board documents.

The school lost a soccer field and had to relocate its softball field to make room for the new building. Relocating the softball field cut into what little green space is left, leaving about 5.5 acres.

Other high schools have about twice the green space. NEHS was originally at 11.5 acres, Sheldon has 10.5 acres, South Eugene has 9 acres, Churchill has 19 acres.

"Five acres for a high school with the volume of sports teams that are going on and the activities that are going on, that is really tough for the athletic department to manage," said Kyle Tucker, 4J's chief operations officer. "To put all of those folks in different areas to try to get them to practice without forcing them to practice at 8 or 9 or 10 (at night)."

Rabasa pointed out this could be an equity issue if NEHS has such difference in their athletic spaces and fields, affecting those practice times.

During public comment at Wednesday's meeting, Craig Gibbons, NEHS graduate and community member, asked the board to leave the building up and honor the historic significance.

"I have watched all my life as older buildings were demolished rather than modernized, preserved and reused," Gibbons said. "Please do not demolish North Eugene High School. The aesthetic of the building is recent enough not to destroy it. It is a mid-century modern building. The construction of the building is a memorial to the town.

"The building is our heritage and our future, a potential future. Please do not rush a decision that destroys the heritage and forecloses on that future."

What about keeping part of the old building?

When asked about an option in between complete demolition or preservation, Tucker said it is not an easy choice.

The original NEHS building had some remodeling in the early 2000s, renovating part of the cafeteria, some classrooms and other minor projects. Although these are closer to the current building standards, saving bits and pieces of a structure like NEHS would be difficult, according to Tucker.

In his experience working on similar projects in other school districts, Tucker said the cost of saving parts of buildings is often more expensive than full renovation.

He said because NEHS is built on concrete, dividing up parts of it to keep or demolish would be very complicated. It would elevate costs even further, but the district has not yet vetted the exact cost of this option.

What about the North community?

Most of the board members confirmed getting letters and calls from people in the NEHS area, expressing whether they want the building to remain or not, but also asking for more information.

Board member Laural O'Rourke called for more community input opportunity, saying she doesn't live in the area, but there should be more outreach.

"I want to hear from the people who live there and are using those areas," O'Rourke said. "I want them to have some of the information we have as well, so they'll be making informed choices about the area ... The letters I get the most are 'We don't know what's going on. Is anything even happening? We don't know.' And that means we're failing the communication part here."

Dey also said there needs to be more community discussion. Until that happens, he is holding off on giving an official recommendation to the board.

Hsu said she wants to hear not only from the community, but specifically staff, teachers, parents and students.

Tucker said the timeline is short. The new NEHS is close to completion. If the board chooses to demolish the old building and put in a green space, that is a 20- to 22-month process, according to Tucker. There is no real, hard timeline, but the earlier the board makes a decision, the quicker the development team can make a plan and execute it.

The board did not discuss any formal method of collecting public input.

Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on Twitter @mirandabcyr.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Board asks for feedback on future of old North Eugene High