Published:Thursday, October 16, 2008 11:02 AM PDT
Serving the South Coast of Oregon

Two schools won’t get funds
Thursday, October 16, 2008 11:02 AM PDT

The Coos Bay School District’s bond measure specifically avoids two buildings in its money quest for repairs: the Harding Learning Center and Blossom Gulch Elementary School.

At one point, the district considered building a new school at Blossom’s south Tenth Street location. But the board decided the cost of three new schools would be too much.

Ron Opitz said there hasn’t been a call from the public to replace that elementary school, either.

“We do not want to press the issue on the voters who don’t have a problem with it,” he said.

The district wouldn’t use any bond funds to make repairs at Blossom Gulch because of the unstable ground the school is built on.

“We are constantly working on it,” Opitz said. “But it is a bottomless pit.”

De La Vergne said that if the bond measure passes, some of the students who currently go to Blossom Gulch could possibly move to the new school proposed at Eastside.

He said there are no plans to close Blossom Gulch at the present time.

What happens with the district’s elementary schools will be discussed after the election, De La Vergne said.

Each new elementary school is expected to have enough classrooms to house between 550 and 650 students.

The consensus so far is that students likely will move from Bunker Hill to Eastside. What is done with Bunker Hill is open for discussion. The programs currently offered in the Harding Learning Center may move there. Or the administrative offices may be relocated. Or everything will stay in its current home and Bunker Hill will be vacant.

“The board will need to have that discussion,” De La Vergne said.

And if the bond measure passes, designs of the two new buildings would need to be prepared, along with a schedule for construction.

Business Manager Rod Danielson said some construction could begin in summer 2009, though the district would need to decide the pace of the repairs and construction.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us if it passes,” Danielson said.


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