River Trails District 26 building plan has some critics

River Trails District 26 Superintendent Dane Delli said the district has gone out of its way to be transparent as it asks voters for permission to issue bonds for a new $29 million Early Learning Center.

On the district's website, residents can even access a calculator to see how their property tax bills would be affected.

"One of my objectives as superintendent is to not have people on Nov. 8 saying, 'Well, you tried to sneak in some kind of a referendum,'" Delli said.

Still, not all of the voters are convinced. Resident and parent Teresa VanOpdorp said the decision to go to referendum was premature.

The district says that because of rising student enrollment, its two elementary schools, Indian Grove and Euclid, are at capacity, with no additional classroom space available. Conditions are so cramped at Indian Grove, the school has been forced to offer music and art classes in a shared classroom, the district says.

But VanOpdorp said, "They haven't basically tried to solve the situation before going to a $29 million building."

She said she questions why the district hasn't tried a stopgap solution such as mobile classrooms or renovating the Park View School, which would make way for the new building, especially when the enrollment trend may change. She noted that the enrollment projections presented do not go beyond 2020.

Delli said the issue has been discussed formally at every board meeting since February, noting that the board vetted nine options before choosing the current plan, which, Delli said, the board felt best addressed the need for consolidation, expansion of the preschool program and creation of additional space for projected enrollment growth to 1,800 students from 1,500.

"We're a school district that does not go to the voters and ask for money unless we need it," Delli said. "This is a scenario where we believe we need it."

VanOpdorp also questioned building "a Taj Mahal for 3-to-5-year-olds," when there are already great preschools in the area. She criticized the proposed tuition for the preschool for those children not already funded by grants.

"Who is going to pay for a preschool at $3,500 for a half day," she said.

Delli said the tuition has not been decided, but the $3,000 figure that has been floated for a five-day-per-week, half-day program would offset some of the operational and instructional costs and would be high enough not be threatening to other preschools.

He said students would be taught by certified preschool teachers. "We're not trying to restrict people's options. We're just trying to add another one," Delli said.

Delli said if the measure is rejected, the district would face difficult decisions that might include higher class sizes, removing art and music from areas that would be repurposed for regular classrooms, or possibly installing mobile classrooms.

The proposal calls for the Early Learning Center to be built on the site of Park View School, which is leased to a private Montessori school and also houses district administrative offices. The new school would house all preschool and kindergarten, creating space at the two elementary schools for the projected increase in student enrollment.

The 50-year-old Park View structure is in need of an estimated $6.2 million in repairs, Delli said. If the bond issue is rejected, the district would still be "left with the question of what to do with an antiquated building."

Sue Stolzer, a member of a referendum advisory committee that supports the plan, said the frills in the initial plan were eliminated, paring the cost by $6 million. She said the plan is the best option, is fiscally responsible and provides a building that meshes with how children are going to learn and how professionals are going to use the space for 21st-century learning.

As a parent in the district and an early childhood educator, she said: "I know what happens when referendums fail. I have taught in school districts with failed referendums, and we had trailers. And we had large class sizes. And we had art and music on a cart."