Clarkston committee completes 20-year school facilities plan

The Clarkston School District Facility Advisory Committee has a 20-year facilities plan that the community will soon be able to review.

The committee began from conversations after the bond for a new high school failed to pass in 2023. A facilities committee was created and a levy to fund capital projects passed in April. The committee met Monday and has been meeting regularly since March.

The 20-year facilities plan came from tours of the schools, meetings and talks with staff about what needs to be fixed and a list of needs for different facilities. The plan breaks down projects into the 4-5 year segments and outlines how it will be funded either through already allocated money, the capital levy or with grants. Some of the funding areas are left blank as options are uncertain. The plan also lists the projects based on priority.

A public forum meeting is planned to take place in February for community input; information on the meeting will be sent in the mail. The committee is also working on setting up a website with more information. The committee is made up of about 20 community members, some maintenance and school district employees, and school board members Chris Bunce and Dan Randles.

Bunce noted that while the bond had the majority of support, it didn’t meet the threshold of 60% plus one to pass. Hearing from the community made it clear that people wanted the district to maintain the facilities it had and be good stewards of the money, Bunce said. She wants the forum to be an opportunity for the district to be transparent with its plans and money, and give an opportunity for the community to voice their opinion on what should be done with the schools. At the forum they don’t want the focus to be on the failed bond, but on looking to the future of the school district.

“What we’re really here for is to plan for the future,” said Facility Advisory Committee member Jack Worle.

Part of that future could include a skills center, another topic that will be covered at the public forum meeting. The district is in the process of applying for a grant through the state that would help fund a skills center for Clarkston and Asotin and possibly other school districts. The next step in the process is to have a feasibility study and present it to the legislature. The entire process could take three to five years to get approval and funding.

Bunce discussed the skills center and meeting with different partners for the project, including Walla Walla Community College as well as economic groups to help with the feasibility study. Some of the data for the study is already available but it will cost money to put it together for the legislature. While the district could wait for the state to do the feasibility study it could be better for the district to do it.

At the meeting, Bunce asked members of the committee to be thinking ahead about questions on the 20-year plan and skills center that are likely to come up at the forum so they can be prepared.

Bunce said people always have questions about whether the district applies for grants, which it does. She suggested having a master list of the grants that were applied for, as well as a list of grants that were received or not received.

“If grants were that easy, we would all have new schools in every town,” she said.

As an example of issues with grants, Bunce said the school district applied for a $100,000 grant to get a security card access system at the high school but the district did not get the grant. Some of the funds from the capital levy were going to pay for asphalt and concrete projects but Bunce wondered if it would be possible to divert those funds to pay for the security upgrades. Members on the committee said using the funds for security was more important.

Superintendent Thaynan Knowlton confirmed that the language of the capital levy allowed for the funds to be used for security. He said that’s why the levy was written the way it was, to allow for flexibility with the capital projects.

“We want to do the right thing,” Knowlton said. “I think this is the right thing, but we need to be clear about what we’re doing and why.”

Worle said the community took a big step in approving the capital levy. Although the levy is a large funding source for the projects, it only provides $1.8 million from 2025-27 and it’s going to take 20 years or more to get all the projects funded.

“People need to understand this levy we got going on right now is probably gonna be permanent,” Worle said.

The committee itself could also be a permanent fixture after member Tony Maiorana asked how long the committee was going to be in place. Bunce said it’s possible the group will continue to meet long term, but reduce the number of meetings and rotate out members.

The committee wants to clearly communicate the cost of the projects, which could change over time and have different funding sources depending on what grants are available. The committee also wants the community to know what could happen if certain projects aren’t completed. Bunce and Knowlton noted that a lot of projects on the list aren’t things that people will notice, such as roofs, HVAC and hot water updates.

“This is as bare bones as you can get to make sure the building doesn’t collapse,” Knowlton said.

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.