A schools facilities meeting was held November 11, and community members were able to preview and comment on the current round of design plans for Longfellow Elementary School and the Salida High School in prepartion for the BEST grant application. This is the fourth meeting of the Facilities Planning (BEST); the first meeting occurred on Sept 22nd. Participates in the round table discussions help in the planning and development process of the BEST application for state matching funds.
Roy Blythe of Blythe Group and Co., a full-service design, architecture and project management firm based in Grand Junction, led the group in discuss and review of current design plans. Longfellow Elementary would be constructed behind the current school and would not interfere with daily classroom activities. The new Salida High School would be constructed on the south side of the current campus where the track and practice field are located. Once the new high schools is constructed the old building would be demolished and the track relocated to that area of the campus.
Both schools must meet LEED certification in order to get BEST funds. LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a green building rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council and provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.
BEST provides an annual amount of funding, in the form of competitive grants to school districts, charter schools, institiute chapter schools, boards of cooperative educational services and the Colorado school for the deaf and the blind. BEST funds can be used for the construction of new schools as well as general construction and renovation of existing school facility systems and structures.
Salida School district will file for an application in early 2010, applications will be reviewed in June. The Capital Construction Assistance Board will meet and make recommendations to the State Board on June 29th and 30th. The State Board would then meet in July and projects would be awarded in August. If Salida were awarded a grant then the Salida School Board would have to ask voters to pass a bond issue in order to receive the BEST funds.
BEST funds afford an incredible opportunity for our district to build state of the art school facilities. If the Salida School District is awarded the money than it becomes critically important that the public is aware of the importance of passing the bond issue. Without an approved bond the BEST grant money is not awarded.
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