The former Milner Crest Elementary School may have a new role to play in the community.

Coos Bay's School Board recently agreed to have an architect prepare bid documents for remodeling the former school to create the Milner Crest Educational Center.

Coos Bay Superintendent Jeremy Lyon said the board is moving forward with the idea - cautiously. More discussion about the project is expected at the board's April meeting. The remodeling project, which is estimated to cost about $227,000, will be paid for using money from Coos Bay's capital projects fund.

Lyon said the district's administration isn't trying to make its environment better by moving out of the current administration building on Teakwood Avenue to Milner Crest. But space is an issue. The South Coast Education Service District, which provides school districts from Reedsport to Brookings with specialized services and programs, is undergoing equalization by the state. That means it is losing money and school districts are forced to take on more federally required special education programs.No early release for Coos Bay students

Unlike some of their South Coast counterparts, Coos Bay School District teachers and students won't be getting out of school early this spring.

Superintendent Jeremy Lyon said that if the Legislature doesn't pass on any more budget reductions, the district will not have to cut any school days from this year.

"We should have a full year this year," Lyon added. "It's very exciting to us."

In order to make the budget reductions already passed on this year by the Legislature, Lyon said Coos Bay will backfill the cuts with its ending fund balance. The district started the year with more than $1.5 million in the fund. At the end of the year, Lyon said that Coos Bay estimates the balance will be around $300,000.

"Because of the slippage in state funding, it's drained the ending fund balance down," Lyon added. "We're shaving it razor close this year, but we're willing to take a risk to run a full school year for the benefit of our kids and our employees."

- Patti Richter, staff writer

In the last few years, Lyon said Coos Bay has taken over providing its students with speech and consultation services from the ESD. But by doing that, the district also has added at least six people to its staff to manage the programs.

"We are running out of space," he added.

But district officials don't want the former school to become just another administrative building. By remodeling it, the district can use the building in a new way.

"We want it to become much, much more than an administrative building," Lyon said.

Currently, the South Coast ESD uses classrooms in Milner Crest to house its preschool program. That wouldn't change with the remodeling project.

"It helps preserves the concept of Milner Crest as a school with children," Lyon said. "It helps keep it as a community school."

Other remodeling plans call for the building's library to be converted into a community meeting room and setting up a computer lab, with a recently acquired $296,000 grant, to serve as a community technology and training center.

"We're going to open it up to the community for students, parents and community members to use as a resource and get training they need," Lyon said, adding that Coos Bay also will use it for staff development. "This will be a way to bridge the digital divide and help people get hooked up to the latest technology."

Another benefit to the plan would be the possibility of selling the Teakwood Avenue building, which a recent property appraisal put valued at between $285,000 and $310,000.

Lyon said the district would then use the sale proceeds to replenish the district's capital projects fund.

"The board has an obligation to not be top-heavy and to get property that is not being used back on the tax rolls," Lyon said.

The superintendent believes Coos Bay's School Board should move forward with its plans for Milner Crest.

"We need to act aggressively," Lyon said.

He added the district's former Englewood School is a prime example of what can happen when a property is held on to for too long. In recent years, Coos Bay turned the building into a warehouse and rented out space to local organizations. Now, Englewood has become a tremendous liability to the district.

"Twenty years later, we have the same problem," Lyon said.

In addition to Englewood, Coos Bay now has three more closed schools - Charleston, Eastside and Milner Crest - on its list of surplus property. The district pays anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 to main and secure the four different buildings each year.

"We are pouring money into minor upkeep of the places instead of putting it in our classrooms and curriculum for kids," he said.