Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — It's tough to be a middle school when you're meant to be a junior high school.

Such was the message Wednesday, when the Capital Commission presented its funding recommendation to the Education Fund Board for the 2003-04 budget cycle.

The Capital Commission's sole recommendation was the Steamboat Springs Middle School expansion project.

Middle School Principal Tim Bishop and Assistant Principal Jerry Buelter joined commission members in presenting the goals and necessity of the expansion.

"We were built as a junior high," Buelter said. "We would like to see our school look more like a middle school."

In a traditional junior high school, students move from class to class every 45 minutes, have an average of seven teachers and their movement is dictated by a school bell, Buelter said.

In a middle school, students have longer blocks of time with each teacher, are taught by a smaller "team" of teachers, stay in one area of the building for most of the school day and their classes are dictated by curriculum, not bells, Buelter said.

However, limitations in the middle school's design and space have hindered the school's ability to operate in the middle school format, Bishop said.

With only four science classrooms, sixth-grade science teachers are forced to teach in regular classrooms.

Four resource teachers, two aides, an occupational therapist and a speech therapist share a single office. The in-school suspension room is part of Buelter's office. Classrooms serving students in the same grade level lack connectivity, which hinders close "teaming" between teachers.

"We're really trying to be a middle school," Bishop said. "Now all we need is a little space to put us over the hump."

The expansion project seeks to add about 8,700 square feet of space to the building.

Additional classrooms will be included within this space, and the configuration of existing classrooms and resource rooms will be adjusted to fit the mold of a middle school with team environments.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $1,611,000. Of that amount, $75,000 is taken care of through previously granted funds. The Capital Commission also will use $625,000 of its $643,000 in unallocated funds toward the project.

The remaining project balance of $911,000 will be paid off in three steps. The commission is requesting $400,000 in Fund Board funds for the 2003-04 budget cycle.

The commission recommended the Fund Board secure a $511,000 loan from one local bank or a syndicate of local banks, using the board's approximately $550,000 in certificates of deposit as collateral.

The $511,000 loan would be paid off over a two-year period. The commission would request funding to cover about half of the amount of the loan during both the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Fund Board budgeting cycles.

If the Fund Board approves the expansion project, it will begin in April with a preliminary completion date of July 2004.

The expansion will not require additional teachers at the school, Bishop said.

The Capital Commission narrowed in on the project it felt is most important to the most district students, commission member Dennis Melton said.

"That project is expansion of the middle school," he said.

The Fund Board will allocate revenue from the city's half-cent sales tax at its March 26 meeting. The Educational Excellence Commission presents its funding recommendations at the March 5 meeting.

Such was the message Wednesday, when the Capital Commission presented its funding recommendation to the Education Fund Board for the 2003-04 budget cycle.

The Capital Commission's sole recommendation was the Steamboat Springs Middle School expansion project.

Middle School Principal Tim Bishop and Assistant Principal Jerry Buelter joined commission members in presenting the goals and necessity of the expansion.

"We were built as a junior high," Buelter said. "We would like to see our school look more like a middle school."

In a traditional junior high school, students move from class to class every 45 minutes, have an average of seven teachers and their movement is dictated by a school bell, Buelter said.

In a middle school, students have longer blocks of time with each teacher, are taught by a smaller "team" of teachers, stay in one area of the building for most of the school day and their classes are dictated by curriculum, not bells, Buelter said.

However, limitations in the middle school's design and space have hindered the school's ability to operate in the middle school format, Bishop said.

With only four science classrooms, sixth-grade science teachers are forced to teach in regular classrooms.

Four resource teachers, two aides, an occupational therapist and a speech therapist share a single office. The in-school suspension room is part of Buelter's office. Classrooms serving students in the same grade level lack connectivity, which hinders close "teaming" between teachers.

"We're really trying to be a middle school," Bishop said. "Now all we need is a little space to put us over the hump."

The expansion project seeks to add about 8,700 square feet of space to the building.

Additional classrooms will be included within this space, and the configuration of existing classrooms and resource rooms will be adjusted to fit the mold of a middle school with team environments.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $1,611,000. Of that amount, $75,000 is taken care of through previously granted funds. The Capital Commission also will use $625,000 of its $643,000 in unallocated funds toward the project.

The remaining project balance of $911,000 will be paid off in three steps. The commission is requesting $400,000 in Fund Board funds for the 2003-04 budget cycle.

The commission recommended the Fund Board secure a $511,000 loan from one local bank or a syndicate of local banks, using the board's approximately $550,000 in certificates of deposit as collateral.

The $511,000 loan would be paid off over a two-year period. The commission would request funding to cover about half of the amount of the loan during both the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Fund Board budgeting cycles.

If the Fund Board approves the expansion project, it will begin in April with a preliminary completion date of July 2004.

The expansion will not require additional teachers at the school, Bishop said.

The Capital Commission narrowed in on the project it felt is most important to the most district students, commission member Dennis Melton said.

"That project is expansion of the middle school," he said.

The Fund Board will allocate revenue from the city's half-cent sales tax at its March 26 meeting. The Educational Excellence Commission presents its funding recommendations at the March 5 meeting.