(Lake Park)– The Harris-Lake Park School District is moving ahead with a facilities study. The school board Tuesday evening approved a contract with the FEH architectural firm to conduct the study. As we reported previously it will weigh the pro’s and cons and costs for two options. One would be to keep things as they are and to make improvements to the existing elementary and middle school/high school buildings. The other would be to build onto the middle school/high school building and move the elementary to that location with a K-12 facility under one roof. Interim Superintendent Les Douma…
“Either way I’m really excited about it because I think it will keep the Harris-Lake Park system and it will be a wonderful school system for many, many, years to come, no matter what option ends up happening. Obviously then those options are going to mean there might be a bond referendum. Now the voters might not vote for it, so that, too. I mean it takes a community, it takes community support and we’ll have to see what direction we go with it, so.”
Douma says the study will take three to four months to complete…
“From the study we have to get right into what does that mean? I mean start putting the pieces together so that the community can see what it’s all about so all of us, the board can see what it’s all about, obviously, staff, and everyone, so that we put a cost factor: this is what option one, this is what option two and then you get to that point where the board says you know what, we’ve listened to community, we’ve listened to a lot of people, we’ve listened to the study, looked at the study, we think option one is the best, we think option two, and then proceed and then that means proceed to the voters with a bond referendum.”
Douma says the earliest that’s likely to happen is September, 2023…
“We could do a bond vote in the spring, but I don’t think that’s fair to the voters or anyone. You’re rushing and you’re putting things out there that many people don’t know, aren’t sure about. I think we just have to be very honest with what’s going on, take our time, let them see what we’re trying to do, and then see if they support that.”
A representative of FEH said he hopes to come back to the board with their findings in January or February, 2023.
