School board to meet in new old office |
| January 14, 2014 |
|
The Boundary County School Board will meet
tonight at 6 p.m. for its first meeting of the
year, and they'll be meeting once again in the
old school district office at 7188 Oak Street,
in newly refurbished offices in a building that
has seen several uses over the past few years. School administration moved from the building in 2005 so as not to jeopardize "rural school" funding for Evergreen School. To qualify as a rural school, which brings in additional state funding, a school has to be located at least 15 miles from the district's administration office, and Evergreen is just under. The board decided to move the district office to the high school, and for awhile the old administration building was home to the Bonners Ferry Senior Center, then it was converted to house Riverside School until the alternative high school was closed last year. Not long after the move, Evergreen Elementary was closed, a new high school was built and the old-old high school, which then held the junior high, was closed and middle school students moved into the old high school. The district last year considered selling the old admin building, but after an appraisal was deemed too low, the board late last year decided to retain the building and restore it as both the administration and technology building so as to free up much-needed space at the middle school. After some remodeling, those offices moved in over the Christmas break, and everyone thus far seems to like the new arrangements. The spaces vacated are now being used by students, and school administrators are all in one building with considerably more room. The entire move, from refurbishing the building, adding new offices and the move itself, cost $36,142, paid for from a portion of Fund 240, allowed by the state legislature for one time facility expenditures fitting a strict criteria the move qualified for. |