Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series on the proposed $36.9 million bond measure for construction and maintenance projects for the Silver Falls School District on the May 21 ballot. The April 1 story focused on the 92-year-old Eugene Field School. The May 1 story will look at what is proposed for Schlador Street, the former high school campus.
By Kristine Thomas
Gene Pfeifer and Tim Roth concur students in the Silver Falls School District deserve to be educated in safe and functional buildings. They also agree the district’s buildings are assets that should be maintained.
Where they disagree is on the best way to reach those goals. Roth supports – and Pfeifer opposes – the $36.9 million bond measure on the May 21 ballot that if approved would pay for construction and/or maintenance projects at the district’s schools.
Roth, 54, is an eight-year member and current chairman of the Silver Falls School District board, father of two students in the district, and a local farmer.
Pfeifer, 67, said he has had 44 years of experience as a design build specialist and has spent four decades serving on various district committees, including as chairman of the 1993 and 1999 high school relocation committee. Pfeifer contends although he no longer has his contractor’s license – he’s engaged in a dispute with the Oregon Contractors Construction Board – the lack of it does not negate his experience or expertise.
The Silver Falls School District facilities plan that the bond would fund was developed by a 23-member Long Range Planning Committee appointed by the board. Members represented of a cross-section of school personnel, parents and the community. There were 11 parents – one from every school – two board members and two building administrators as well as a classified and certified district employee and six at-large members. Hill International, an outside consultant, provided assistance. The committee met in public metings from Oct. 20, 2011 to June 25, 2012, when it gave its final report and recommendation to the board.
If the bond passes, funds would be used to convert the Schlador Street campus into a middle school for fifth through eighth grade students with separate wings for fifth-sixth and seventh-eighth; pay for maintenance and facility upgrades at the district’s elementary schools and discontinue the use of Eugene Field Elementary School.
According to Silver Falls Superintendent Andy Bellando, approval of the bond will not change what property owners see on their current tax bill. The bond rate is projected to remain at the current level of about $3.35 per $1,000 of assessed value. The bond approved by voters in 1994 will be paid off in June 2013. This “enables the district to issue the new bond without increasing total bond levy rates,” according to district material.
Bellando said the school board has evaluated the district’s buildings, received input from licensed professionals and decided on the fiscally responsible action to protect the district’s assets. He said the plan the bond would fund addresses many needs, from upgrading school security to ensuring schools have the same technology infrastructure to handling deferred maintenance projects.
“The Long Range Planning Committee met with the intent to give the district a plan to guide it for the next 20 years and beyond,” he said. “Our goal is to continue maintaining the investment we have in our buildings.”
Pfeifer said he has many reasons he is opposed to the bond, including he disagrees that Eugene Field Elementary School needs to be closed.
He wrote a 17-page report he wrote called “Remediation and Repair Report for Eugene Field Elementary School…” and shared it with the Silver Falls School District board members on March 11. Pfeifer estimates it would cost $630,000 to address projects at Eugene Field including roof assembly and foundation ventilation; gym structural exterior; roof leaks; basement floor flooding; knob and tube wiring and increasing wall plugs.
It would cost an estimated$10 to $12 million – with $2 million in contingency – to remediate both Eugene Field and the Schlador Street campus, he said.
“The remediation of Eugene Field School is economically and responsibly feasible,” Pfeifer wrote. “Therefore, considering that the cost of the needed remediation may be only 5 percent of the replacement cost of a new facility, not counting fixture, furniture and equipment, the school should not be removed from the SFSD inventory.”
Pfeifer said he has attended several board meetings to share his disappointment that the buildings are not properly maintained.
“If there is a leak in the roof, it should be fixed and not be allowed to leak until it causes dry rot,” Pfiefer said, adding he has found leaves clogging ventilation holes in the Eugene Field’s foundation and roof drains broken or disconnected. These are problems that should be easily addressed, he said.
Citing but not naming public documents, Pfeifer said the cost to remediate the Schlador Street campus went from $2.9 million in 1993 to $3.37 million in 1999 to $26.76 million in 2013. He estimates the current value of the Schlador Street campus at $50 million.
In the summer of 2011, Pfeifer told school board members that by his knowledge and experience, “the basic remediation of the Schlador structures, relative to seismic, HVAC, HA, electric, asbestos, and fire, life and safety issues could be accomplished for $4 to 5 million dollars.”
He said the board “vociferously challenged these potentially affordable figures,” even though the architect had stated the same figures in 1999.
Pfeifer contends facilities can be improved to reasonable standards of seismic and fire safety, heating and ventilation.
“The bond is not the magic thing to fix our schools, ” he said. “What we need is proper maintenance. We need to take care of our assets.” He also argues both the Schlador Street and Eugene Field campuses are historic buildings. “We need to show some respect for our heritage. If we can fix something or remediate it, that’s what we should do.”
Superintendent Bellando said any time there has been a problem with a building, whether a leak in the roof or a blown valve on a boiler, the problem has been addressed.
The maintenance staff has done an excellent job of caring for the district’s schools, he said. Bellando went on to point out that due to decreased funding from the state for schools, the custodial/maintenance budget in the general fund budget has decreased from 9.43 percent in 2003 to 8.7 percent in 2013. In 2003, the average school square footage per custodian was about 24,500 square feet. In 2013, the average school square footage per custodian in 2013 is about 36,000 square feet.
The district has made a conscious decision “to maintain an emphasis on classroom instruction,” he said.
Bellando said administrator and teacher staffing has dropped about 7.5 percent in the past five years. Classified staffing has dropped about15 percent, including custodial staffing.
Despite this, if people want proof that the district has maintained its facilities, look at Eugene Field, Bellando said. “The district’s buildings on average are 65 years old. Eugene Field is 92 years old. From a comparative standpoint, 50 to 75 years is the life of a building and the district has gotten 92 years out of Eugene Field by taking care of it. ”
Both the Long Range Facilities Committee and school board members compared the costs of remediation for Eugene Field versus closing the school and relocating students. According to the Skanska USA Building report, the total renovation cost for Eugene Field School is $8.5 million. The construction of a new K-3 school – 43,000 square feet – would be $8 million depending on site selection.
In the report, conditions found at Eugene Field included unreinforced hollow clay tile exterior walls and untreated wood framing members for the interior walls, floors and roof structure. Other issues reported: questions of indoor air quality, 1929 wiring, water infiltration and dry rot, poor
roof and foundation drainage, moss and water on the roof and potential asbestos in flooring, plaster and pipe insulation.
“While the building met codes in the 1920s, there is likely not a single structural element, in our opinion, that meets current structural or fire codes,” the report states.
Bellando said while nothing in Eugene Field meets current codes, the building has been “grandfathered in” to be able to continue to operate. If the district were to pull a permit to upgrade one building function – such as electrical – he said it could open a can of worms requiring more permits and more upgrades to meet current codes. In the end, he said, it could cost the district millions of dollars.
Over the years, there have been various presentations on what it would cost to remodel and reconstruct the Schlador Street campus, Bellando said. In 1993, Luey Architects presented a quote of $10.4 million for remodeling and reconstruction costs. In 2008, RSS Architects gave a quote for $18 million. The current quote from DOWA-IBI Architect Group of Portland is $26.76 million. He said the costs are not directly comparable because the scope of each project was different, the cost to meet code compliances increased and the lastest included required off-site improvements such as roadwork.
What is important to note, he said, is the figures came from qualified, licensed specialists.
Bellando has made presentations about the bond and answered questions from the public at all the district’s schools. He said each of the principals in the K-8 schools have made lists of needed projects ranging from new roofs to heating and mechanical upgrades.
“This bond honors each school in the district and preserves the importance of each school,” he said.
Pfeifer said he has talked with people who worry about the amount of the bond and their ability to pay for it. He also acknowledges he has received criticism for his opposition.
He sees it as both a social justice and an economic issue.
“I am an active activist,” he said. “When I know something, I have to step up and say something. I think we can do what we need to do to maintain our schools but we can do it in a more frugal way. We don’t have the money and we shouldn’t be spending money we don’t have. The district is failing to listen to me at a professional level.”
Roth has read through Pfeifer’s report on Eugene Field and listened to his concerns at board meetings. He said Pfeifer’s approach is a short-term, “Band-Aid approach.”
“I don’t think Gene understands the workings of the Eugene Field from how much technology is used or that they are constantly blowing breakers because of the outdated electrical system. There are so many requirements for the 21st century and what he is proposing isn’t adequate. It would be like putting lipstick on a pig. You would still have the same old building.”
Vacating Eugene Field is one of the board’s main priorities, Roth said. “It is not unsafe but we are afraid it is going to be unsafe if we don’t do something soon.”
He is also disappointed that Pfeifer chastized the district’s maintenance staff at a recent public meeting. With budget cuts, Roth said, even Mark Twain Middle School doesn’t have a full-time custodian.
“Budgets have gotten so tight that we put what we have into the classroom,” he said. “There isn’t money for the maintenance projects unless it becomes a crisis.”
He understands the concerns about maintaining the district’s assets and what it means to ask voters to approve the bond measure. Roth said the school board members believe now is the right time because there will not be a tax increase.
“We can keep tax rates flat for patrons and still address some of the issues with our buildings. It is either now or some time down the road that we have to make this investment in our schools,” Roth said. “Right now, construction cost and interest rates are low. We have the opportunity to pay for our schools without a tax increase.”
