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ORD < The Ord school board continued its move toward a potential bond issue by going back to the drawing board Thursday night.
Eight months after construction proposals from a community committee brought a wave of resistance from residents, the board hosted an informal question-and-answer session about the high school's main classroom building, erected in 1928.
The discussion was led by Doug Evans, a senior partner at Research Associates of Lincoln, which conducted a poll of area residents on the issue last fall.
Evans said the poll revealed a deep split among voters over several issues including the value of the 1928 building, the school's gym and a bond's acceptable cost.
Evans said he hopes to foster a "community conversation" about the district's facilities that would gather residents' input, answer core questions and explore compromises.
"Any community that is divided is not going to get anything done," he said.
Thursday's meeting, which focused on the 1928 building, was largely free of the tension that characterized last summer's meetings.
But residents still disagreed over whether the building should be renovated or scrapped in favor of a new one.
Several teachers opened the meeting by speaking about the building's insufficient space, ventilation and accommodations for technology.
They described a wait to use the school's undersized media center as well as projects they'd like to teach but don't have the space or computer access to do so.
"In many ways, our current school building inhibits our district's ability to deliver the necessary curriculum for our students," said Sandy Bartholomew, a math teacher.
But several of about 140 patrons present said those problems could be resolved by renovating or adding onto the current classroom section.
They also questioned the lack of space in a district that's been losing students for several decades.
Steffan Baker said the school's block schedule and some of the elective classes it offers may be contributing to its space constraints.
"I think it's a utilization problem, whereas you talk about functionality," he told Evans.
Administrators, including secondary principal Mark Hagge and Superintendent Max Kroger, cited a more hands-on curriculum and increased special education needs as reasons for the space concerns.
Renovating that section of the school to meet codes and guidelines for fire safety, ventilation, handicapped accessibility and specialized classrooms would cost about $3.2 million, said Jim Berg, an architect with the Lincoln firm Bahr, Vermeer and Haecker.
Adding onto the building to bring it up to modern space standards would bring the cost to $4.7 million to $5 million, while replacing the 1928 section with a new one up to those current space standards would cost about $6.2 million to $6.5 million, Berg said.
Holly O'Brien, a freshman at the high school, spoke strongly in favor of replacing the building, telling patrons to show more concern about future generations than their pocketbooks.
"You wouldn't put Band-Aids on a thing that needs stitches," she said. "It's time to start new."
Evans said he hopes to hold one or two more public forums on other issues after the primary election in May.
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