8A | SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2019 | SIUSLAW NEWS
DISTRICT from page 1A
“We want to see Florence
grow and become everything
it could possibly be, and our
job is to help educate the
children so they can help it
be everything it could possi-
bly be,” he said. “But the fact
of the matter is, a lot more
kids means a lot more infra-
structure is going to be put
under a lot more stress. And
our infrastructure is very
old, and it’s going to require
funds to deal with that. The
only option that the school
board has any control over is
raising that tax.”
When looking at issues
with the school facilities,
Rosinbaum pointed to issues
with how the school is heat-
ed — a boiler from the 1950s.
“You go into the school,
you go upstairs, and the kids
are all sweating,” he said.
“You go downstairs, they’re
freezing to death. It’s not
conducive to learning, and it
requires money to maintain
the systems that are there.”
School District Superin-
tendent Andy Grzeskowiak
went into more detail.
“When you look at the
lifespan of mechanical sys-
tems, we’ve got systems that
simply need to be replaced,”
he said. “They were obso-
lete technology, but of good
quality, when they were put
in 50 years ago. Now they’re
at the end of their service.”
The boiler system is a
money suck, costing the
district $14,000 in electrical
costs in November alone.
“We had $14,000 in costs
for the rest of the district
over the last two months.
And that’s creeping up,” Grz-
eskowiak said.
And the boiler still uses
pneumatic controls, which
“can’t really be fixed, they
have to be replaced,” added
Grzeskowiak.
School
maintenance
workers have to cut out the
old controllers and replace
them with digital controllers.
But to do that, they have to
enter the walls, which are
filled with asbestos.
“So if you go into the walls,
they’re going to say, ‘Take out
the asbestos.’ So you have to
do asbestos abatement on
top of the wiring. When you
have the wall open, if you’re
not fixing any of the plumb-
ing, it’s foolish,” Grzeskowiak
said.
One small project to fix
the boiler system turns into
dozens of projects that in-
clude reworking the plumb-
ing, electrical wiring, and
asbestos abatement.
Plus, electrical wiring has
to be done with special care,
because the school does not
have any a sprinkler system
for fire emergencies.
“It is 135,000 square feet of
unsprinkled space,” Grzesko-
wiak said. “It was originally
built when it was not man-
dated to have one.”
The excise tax would not
alleviate this issue, as it could
not cover the $4-5 million
price tag that would be need-
ed to install one. But lack of
sprinklers creates another is- the City of Florence complet- last couple of years, hiring issues with behavior.
supposed to be completed in
sue for the school — If they ed a Housing Needs Analysis staff and helping them find
“If you have a bigger group 2019, but it wasn’t. The Hab-
do any major renovations, that showed Florence has a housing. You talk about of kids, it’s harder to man- itat homes could be coming
the grandfather clause on pent-up housing demand of workforce housing — if your age behaviors,” Grzeskowi- as soon as next year, but the
the sprinklers go away, and more than 500 units. Since teachers can’t find a house, ak said. “It’s not that we had numbers are not known.
the district would have to then, the city staff, along with people in other industries, more kids with more behav-
“We tend to estimate that
float the bill for the addi- developers and city volun- those who work for the city iors. If you have a kid that’s number fairly conservative-
tion, which it
having an issue ly,” Grzeskowiak said. “You
currently can’t
with 20 kids in go with the lowest enroll-
“Right now, the school is doing well. We’re educating children, a class, it’s easier ment across the year up to
afford.
“There was a the staff and administration is getting our graduation rates up. to give them in- this point in time. If you
function of the We’re doing a lot of really great things, and we’re managing the dividual atten- overestimate the budget on
doors, and the public’s money really well. However, if you start building a bunch tion and deal that, you have to make an
thresholds had
of new houses, that’s a bunch of new families that are coming in. with that, than almost overcorrection, and
to be changed
it is in a class people you hired never work
all around that And we’re not going to be able to support them.”
with 27 or 28.”
a day and they end up get-
— Guy Rosinbaum, Siuslaw School District Board President
area. We get
The district ting fired. Realistically, if our
into this thing
was able to hire estimate is off by as little as
where people
an additional 15 kids, that costs us a staff
talk about preparing for an teers have put in thousands or a service industry, they’re kindergarten teacher and member. It’s like playing
earthquake, I’m just talking of hours preparing proposals not going to find a house ei- split up the classes, alleviat- three-dimensional chess.”
about preparing for build- for projects throughout the ther.”
ing much of the problem. But
All this is not to say that
ing code,” the superinten- city. Though the city has not
But an increase of housing having a shortage of teachers the school is overcrowded
dent said. “You get to a point released an official inventory can put stress on a facilities isn’t the only issue that the and underperforming.
where you come in and the of housing projects, the Siu- that are already close to ca- district has to be aware of
“Right now, the school is
building inspector will say, slaw News looked at all the pacity.
when looking at an influx of doing well,” Rosinbaum said.
‘If you’re making change A, housing projects brought be-
“It always seems to be that students — it could have too “We’re educating children,
it’s going to trigger B,C, D fore the Planning Commis- our biggest class of kids, ev- many teachers if the housing the staff and administration
and E.”
sion the past year and a half. ery time we have another boom doesn’t come to frui- is getting our graduation
So the district is constant- The results show that the kid that moves into the dis- tion.
rates up. We’re doing a lot
ly making repairs piecemeal, city’s work has them well un- trict, it’s ‘Oh gosh, another
“This is about the time of of really great things, and
a delicate balance of fixing der way to reaching the goal seventh-grader,’” Grzeskowi- year that we start doing our we’re managing the public’s
immediate concerns without of 500 homes by 2025.
ak said. “You get eight sev- budget analysis for Oregon money really well. How-
triggering state regulations.
In 2019, the city issues a enth-graders and all of a sud- Department of Education,” ever, if you start building a
“We did hire an addi- total of 43 dwelling permits, den, you’re at capacity.”
Grzeskowiak said. “You have bunch of new houses, that’s
tional maintenance person and more are expected in the
Capacity is a major con- to give them a population a bunch of new families that
to work within the district, coming years.
cern for the district, both in count, and it’s not for now, it’s are coming in. And we’re
because there are so many
Some of the larger projects being physically able to house for next year.”
not going to be able to sup-
small projects that we do that include a 119-unit subdivi- students in the current facili-
The school district has port them. We’re at capacity
two people can’t do on their sion located north of town ties, as well as finding staff to to project what the student now. If you want your chil-
own,” Grzeskowiak said. “We called the Sand Pine Ranch, teach them. Overcrowding in population is going to be in dren to have the education
needed a third to do some which will be less than a classes can create a wide va- order to budget for teachers that we’re providing right
preventative maintenance.”
mile from Cannery Station, riety of issues, as was evident next year. It’s a difficult task, now, or perhaps an even
That’s just for maintaining which is expected to bring 42 this year with the district’s particularly when the state better education, at some
what the school has. Updat- units. Oak Commons, locat- kindergarten classes.
of housing is in flux. The point, we’re going to have to
ing the district to meet needs ed just south of 32nd Street,
“When we looked at our DevNW development was update the facility.”
beyond what was intended in will create 16 homes, and the initial kindergarten enroll-
the 1960s is also a challenge. DevNW project (former- ment estimates for the last
“We’re talking about air ly known as NEDCO) will couple of years, our prelimi-
circulation, electrical ca- bring 12 homes to the area.
nary estimate was about five
pacity and trying to build
These are projects that [additional] kids,” Grzesko-
Aileen Sapp
an environment for the 21st have been officially pro- wiak said. “Then in the last
Broker
century that has a true, na- posed to the city, and there two years, all of a sudden we
541 999-5396
tive digital component to are many more projects in got more than 20 kids than
learning. That’s hard to do,” early phases.
our initial projections. When
Grzeskowiak said. “Nobody
Grzeskowiak stated that we did that last year, we were
Vinca Alley #2101 – Beautiful
Siuslaw River views from this
could see that far into the fu- the new housing is more pretty confident it was go-
in-town lot with city services
ture when the building was than welcome.
ing to be 90 kids. We got to
at the property line. The cor-
designed.”
“It’s tough to find a house,” the start of school, and we
ners are marked, come take a
As an example, he brought he said about finding hous- were at 105. Just that few ex-
look for yourself and imagine
sipping coffee on the deck of
up wiring the elementary ing for new district staff. tra kids, even with a teacher
your dream home! $69,500.
school for wireless internet. “You got people traveling and an aide, that’s a lot in the
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“That building has twice with their life. That’s been room.”
as many access points as it some of the challenges the
With overcrowding comes
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Florence in Bloom
Holiday Clearance Sale
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Now through Jan. 15th.
Blue Christmas/Longest Night Service
The Presbyterian Church
of the Siuslaw and the Flor-
ence United Methodist
Church will join together
at the Presbyterian Church
for a Blue Christmas/Lon-
gest Night service at 7 p.m.
on Saturday, Dec. 21, in the
church Sanctuary.
The name comes from
the season, as Dec. 21 will
be the longest night of the
year. This is also sometimes
known as a Blue Christmas
service, describing the feel-
ing that a number of us have
during this season. In the
long, dark winter nights,
memories of past experienc-
es and the pain of present
circumstances can become
overwhelming.
This will be a service
of wholeness and healing.
Those looking for comfort,
hope, wholeness and renew-
al are welcomed and invit-
ed; as well as anyone wish-
ing to share in an intimate,
contemplative service using
scriptures, readings, music
and more.
Rev. Greg Wood will lead
the service. The church is lo-
cated at 3996 Highway 101.
Call the church office with
questions, 541-997-7136.
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