DFacilities Update

3:30 p.m.

Background Information:

Facilities Update:

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is currently facing a period of general declining enrollment in our student population. Demographic changes have influenced our attendance areas differently resulting in imbalanced student populations. In addition, our facilities are aging without major renovations and needed component maintenance continues to be deferred.

Many of our facilities are currently being underutilized, while other facilities are at attendance levels exceeding the effective capacity of the facility. The School Facility Fact Sheet attached shows these instances. The usage of our facilities has changed over the years with increasingly more area being devoted to Special Needs programs which require a much greater floor area per student. A study is currently underway to evaluate the classroom capacity of each school facility as a determinant of the effective capacity of the school. Current capacity is calculated on the total area of the building including non-classroom spaces. This study will be available for the February KPBSD School Board Meeting.

The attached School Facility Fact Sheet also indicates the relative ages of our facilities. Most of the schools have multiple additions. Those dates are also provided. Please note that outside of Seward Middle School, the shop remodel at Susan B. English and some of the portables, we have not added any new space to our facility inventory nor had a major remodel of any facility in the last 21 years. DEED considers 50 years to be the useful life span of a school facility. In our inventory, we currently have 9 facilities that have portions that exceed this 50 year life span.

This indicates an increased need to pay close attention to the continued upkeep of the facilities we have. The attached DEED Renewal and Replacement Schedule is a tracking report showing the ages of various facility components and systems and the date of life expectancy. An X in the Deferred Project column identifies those items that are past due for replacement. At some point in the near future, consideration needs to be given to fund new facilities to replace our oldest schools, or renovate them at a major level. Major renovations would require temporary closure and relocation of that student body.

We are currently studying options in the central peninsula area for attendance area modifications or consolidation that would allow us to have an empty facility that could be renovated, or house a relocated student body while their school is being renovated. Further information will be provided at the February KPBSD School Board Meeting.

Site visits to identify Capital Needs and Major Maintenance projects should be completed the first week of December. A complete listing of projects and their proposed priority will be presented at the February KPBSD School Board Meeting.

Card Access Update:

Maintenance is currently working on the priority list to update door hardware and make wiring runs as needed to support the card access system and expedite the installation once the electronics are available. The Borough and District are currently working to finalize the procurement of the electronic components. Funding for the card access system is through the Borough Maintenance Security funding. It is anticipated that current funding will allow for the installation of the system at 6-8 facilities. The first installation at Sterling Elementary is expected prior to the end of December. Please refer to the updated priority list for the proposed order of installation.

Please note that the card access system will not interfere with current building security practices, and will be activated only when the administrator feels training has been conducted, procedures established and it is appropriate to implement the system.

NOTE: Dec. 3, 2018

This item is revised to update and correct 3 documents (see below).

Please refer to the revised documents attached (School Facility Fact Study REVISED Pg. 1, School Facility Fact Study REVISED Pg. 2, Aging Facilities REVISED 12-3).

Two of our facilities which have portions older than 50 years old were not acknowledged. This has been corrected.