School board OKs elementary education specifications

Construction at three Cheney School District elementary schools took another step forward with acceptance of educational specifications for the facilities by the district's board of directors at their July 12 meeting.

According to the executive summary of a report presented by the district's architect firm, ALSC, education specifications "define the programmatic, functional, spatial and environmental requirements of the educational facility in written and graphic form for review, clarification and agreement as to the scope of work in design requirements by all individuals working on the Project Design Team."

Essentially, ALSC principal Dave Huotari said the specifications are guidelines to be referenced over the course of the project to make sure upcoming design specifications adhere to what district personnel, in association with ALSC architects, view as essential for various programs at Betz, Sunset and Windsor elementary schools. Remodeling and expansion of the three elementary schools amount to over $18 million of the $52 million capital facilities bond approved by voters in February.

"They're not absolutes, although any deviations should be done thoughtfully," Huotari added.

The specifications were produced through three work sessions in May and June between district personnel from the three schools and ALSC. The committee used Snowdon Elementary School education specifications as a model, incorporating site visits with other input on how spaces should be "developed and outfitted" at each school.

Huotari said committee members were encouraged to "think big," but acknowledging that budget constraints would inevitably pull back some ideas.

Education specifications are also requirements of any state-funded capital project, Huotari said. While none of the three schools is receiving state funds, he added that producing education specifications is a "good idea to use as a basis to work towards" to make sure the district not only gets what it plans for, but can explain to the public why elements were included or not included.

"It helps when people ask 'Did you think about this?'" Huotari said. "You can say and show them the answer is 'Yes, we did. We just decided not to do it or do something else.'"

The school board also declared as surplus a 15-page list of information technology items deemed no longer needed by the district. IT Department's Cliff Smelser said some of the items had been purchased as far back as 2003, while most of the personal computers on the list were about nine years old.

The items surplused have mostly been replaced by more current equipment. Smelser said about 600 PCs, at a cost of $27 each, have been purchased from the state's surplus program "Computers for Kids."

"We were lucky to get those," Smelser said. "They're good machines and we expect them to work out. They should last at least another five years."

In the financial report, Director of Finance Kassidy Probert said as of May 31 the district was at 73.1 percent of its projected expenses and 78.45 percent of anticipated revenues, as compared to 73.6 percent and 77.99 percent respectively at this time in 2016. The district's ending fund cash balance was just over $7.42 million at the end of May, about $1 million above where it was last year.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].