Thursday's Internet Edition, September 02, 2010.

Architect Kent Gandee (left) outlines the county’s proposed Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan as Roane school board members (from left): Paul Cummings, Tom Young, Supt. Steve Goffreda, Joe Painter, Greg Boggs and Chris Mealey listen Tuesday night. Photo by David Hedges

It also topped the discussion at a public hearing on the 10-year Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan, or CEFP, before the list is up for approval by the Roane Board of Education next month.

About a dozen people, mostly school employees, showed up for the hearing Tuesday prior to a school board meeting.

Architect and project consultant Kent Gandee explained the 18-month process that went into developing the plan that must be presented to the state School Building Authority before Sept. 1 to qualify for SBA funds.

He said committees at each of the county’s six schools met several times to discuss priorities for their own school, before they joined into a single county committee to set a list of needs and priorities.

A new Spencer Middle School, projected to cost over $15 million, topped that list.

Gandee said SMS, in the former Spencer High School location, was a “worn-out building” and the facility was not designed as a middle school.

He said the plumbing posed problems and the HVAC system could not maintain minimum indoor air quality standards. He also pointed out security issues in a building with several doors located in a residential and industrial area.

“It’s not a safe site,” he said. “Anyone can walk into that building at any time.”

Some at the hearing questioned whether the proposed new school would be large enough, because the design was about 20,000 square feet smaller than the current school.

Gandee said much of the difference was in the gym and auditorium, which are smaller in middle schools, and in hallways and other wasted space.

He said renovating the existing facility was not an option.

“You’ll spend 12 or 13 million dollars and still have an old building,” he said.

School board president Joe Painter noted that a new SMS was also at the top of the list of priorities in the 10-year plan developed a decade ago.

“We didn’t accomplish that in our last plan,” he said. “What is Spencer Middle School going to look like in another 10 years? We owe it to our students to put them in an environmentally sound and technologically sound building.”

Another question involved the high cost of replacing HVAC systems in the plan, especially at Roane County High School.

Transportation and facilities director Jerry Garner said all the HVAC systems at RCHS, which opened in the fall of 1994, would have to be replaced over the next decade.

Under the proposal, the existing SMS would close in 2017, when students would be moved to a new school at a site to be determined.

Over $10 million of the cost would come from the SBA, with another $5 million from a bond that must be approved by voters.

Other proposals in the plan include a new gym at Spencer Elementary, a new preschool classroom at Walton Elementary/Middle and new offices at the entrances to every middle and elementary school. Schools would be painted, carpet replaced with tile, lighting and bathroom fixtures replaced and wiring upgraded for technology. Repairs to the riverbank at Walton and renovating the older portion of the Walton building round out the committee’s list of 12 priorities.

The overall plan includes resurfacing parking areas and entrance roads and improved outside lighting.

Total cost of all improvements in the plan is over $29 million, with the total bond under consideration just over $9 million. Another $6.5 million would be raised by an excess levy for schools that would also have to be approved by voters, something that has not happened in Roane County since 1946.

Gandee said the final version of the plan would likely be presented for approval at the Roane Board of Education meeting Aug. 12.