First phase of LCSD1 school facilities study complete; more to come
Apr. 12—CHEYENNE — It's been almost a year since students from Arp Elementary School were moved into a swing space, and it's been more than two years since the local school district asked for money to demolish and rebuild the south Cheyenne school.
The good news is that the funds to design and build two new elementary schools in Laramie County School District 1 has been secured from the Wyoming Legislature. However, school district officials are still in conversation with the State Construction Department (SCD) about where those buildings should go.
A Most Cost Effective Remedy (MCER) study was launched on Feb. 19 for the entire district, since seven school facilities in LCSD1 qualified for such a study. Those seven schools were Cheyenne's East High School, along with Arp, Buffalo Ridge, Hobbs, Jessup, Saddle Ridge and Sunrise elementary schools.
Phase I of the MCER study, which was recently completed, identified six potential themes of construction and non-construction alternatives for schools across the district. SCD Director Del McOmie told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Friday these themes help stakeholders narrow down potential projects for the district. They include:
— Theme 1: Address only the seven identified individual sites
— Theme 2: Keep the current mixed grade configurations
— Theme 3: Implement two grade 5-6 schools (one larger, one smaller) in each triad
— Theme 4: Implement one large 5-6 school in each triad
— Theme 5: Implement a grade 4-6 school
— Theme 6: Transition to a K-6 configuration, which would require a complete reconfiguration of all elementary and 5-6 schools into K-6 schools, potentially renovating and reconstructing schools to fit this new configuration
A two-hour Friday morning meeting of stakeholders, including the department, LCSD1 Superintendent Stephen Newton, facility officials and the MCER consultant focused on the six themes and determined what the big items are. Over the next week, these themes will be narrowed down even further by the state and local district.
If the two entities are unable to reach an agreement, McOmie said the themes will be brought before the School Facilities Commission, and it will have the final say.
The in-depth MCER study of the final chosen themes will get down to the cost estimates and timeline of the first construction project, which will hopefully begin sometime in July. Currently, though, officials don't have an answer as to where the two new elementary schools will go.
Things to consider
A MCER study is typically only done for one or two buildings at a time; to conduct a district-wide MCER study that encompasses seven facilities is a bit unusual.
"The consultant came back to us and the district and said, 'We literally almost have an infinite number of alternatives to look at. How can we break those down to the vital few?'" McOmie said.
Factors considered in the study included identifying areas in Cheyenne that are seeing the most growth, what type of school would be most cost effective for the state, whether capacity issues could be resolved by moving around students and whether it was necessary to erase the triad boundaries.
The original LCSD1 plan was to have two grade 5-6 schools in each triad. So far, such a building has been built in the Central and East triads, but the South triad, where Arp Elementary is located, hasn't received one. A 5-6 building holds approximately 550 students, McOmie said, and a K-4 school holds about 350 students.
As the district looks at areas of Cheyenne that are seeing a higher rate of development, one consideration is whether to build a larger multi-grade school that can hold more students, such as a K-6 school. This is what the sixth theme proposes.
However, such a large school isn't necessary in other parts of Cheyenne. McOmie said it is likely the implementation of one large 5-6 school in each triad (theme 5) will still be in play by the end of next week.
"You could address a lot of issues with a 5-6, K-4 school down in the South triad," McOmie said. "But ... there are schools over in the Central and over in the East that wouldn't be impacted."
Funding from the state is also a major factor. Bigger schools are more efficient, McOmie said, because more students can be educated in a single facility. Larger schools are also better equipped to provide individualized training for students in special education.
Bigger schools are also more efficient for block grant funding through the state, he added.
"The good scenario is there are going to be needs that come out of this, and we don't have to wait to (for funding)," McOmie said. "We can hit the ground running right away."
Hannah Shields is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or hshields@wyomingnews.com. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.
