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Steamboat Springs — The first wave of school buses will leave the Steamboat Springs School District's bus barn early Monday morning, bringing an official end to summer for more than 2,000 Steamboat youths and their families. Similar scenes will unfold Tuesday for South Routt students and Sept. 8 for Hayden students.

Each new school year brings renewed promise for academic and extracurricular achievement for our students. Other factors bring additional optimism for a successful 2009-10 school year in Routt County.

For the first time in several years, all three Routt County public school districts enter the fall with stability at the top. Superintendents Shalee Cunningham (Steamboat), Scott Mader (South Routt) and Greg Rockhold (Hayden) each are beginning their second years with their respective districts. There similarly was no turnover in the principal positions at any local school this summer.

Several major capital projects for the Steamboat Springs School District are in the rearview mirror, allowing teachers and staff to fully focus on academics. Those projects - the new Soda Creek Elementary School, a remodeled and expanded Strawberry Park Elementary School and a remodeled front entrance at Steamboat Springs Middle School - were years in the making and cost taxpayers more than $30 million. In Hayden, the Babson-Carpenter Career and Technical Education Center enters its second year of operation, providing hands-on training in fields such as welding, auto mechanics and computer-aided drafting. The South Routt School District is set to unveil a new horticulture program to add to the high school's existing vocational agriculture curriculum.

Program additions during the past year also are making it easier for local families. Tuesday marks the beginning of the second school year in which Steamboat Springs offers full-day kindergarten. Hayden and Soroco have similar programs in place. And this summer's opening of the Boys & Girls Club chapter in Steamboat gives local families additional affordable, quality after-school options for their students.

But despite the many positives taking place in our public school systems, we're concerned about the Hayden School District's fiscal situation, particularly as it relates to the condition of the middle school gym. During last week's Hayden School Board meeting, Rockhold told board members the gym is closed indefinitely because of safety concerns. Worse, the district can't afford to foot the $20,000 to $30,000 it will cost to make the necessary repairs. Rockhold said school officials were working out a plan to provide gym space for middle school students.

A facilities study indicates the 62-year-old gym needs to be reinforced with a steel frame and concrete pillars. Its doors and windows need to be replaced, and the foundation needs to be repaired.

Rockhold said it's likely the district will go to voters in November 2010 with a bond issue to build a new middle school. We're not sure what the mood of the voters - or the economic climate - will be in fall 2010, but we know it's not OK for one of our local schools to be in such poor condition that it poses a hazard to the safety of students and faculty.

Perhaps it's appropriate for Hayden school officials to approach the Education Fund Board and its Capital Commission with an emergency request to fund repairs to the middle school gym. Although the Capital Commission turned away a similar request from the South Routt School District earlier this year, we think there's merit and need for consideration here.

Although declining sales tax revenues will leave the Education Fund Board with fewer dollars than it's had in previous years, declining enrollment and revenues are having a more profound impact on the Hayden School District and its ability to provide a safe facility for its middle schoolers. Finding a way to fix the gym could be the best back-to-school news of all.