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Eagle County schools examine facilities

Lauren Glendenning
lglendenning@vaildaily.com
Eagle County, CO Colorado

Who they talked to: Denny Hill and Bill Reimer of Strategic Resources West, the consulting firm that recently analyzed the school district’s future land and space needs.

What they talked about: School district boundaries might need to be redrawn, and school additions and new schools might need to be built to keep up with the growing school district.

The consultants said that the board should have a few things in its sights for the next five years “boundary changes for Edwards Elementary and June Creek Elementary, a decision on what to do with the old Battle Mountain High School, overcrowding at Brush Creek and Red Hill elementaries, and more expansions at Eagle Valley High School.



After 2014, the board will probably need a third high school, two or three new elementary schools, and one new middle school.

The board and consultants are scheduled to ask real estate developers, county officials and other community members about development potential, property values and the school district’s options for getting new school sites.

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ssions.

Who they talked to: Mike Gass, director of secondary education; Heather Eberts, director of elementary education; Phil Onofrio, chief financial officer for the school district

What they talked about: Fundraising at individual schools is allowed to pay for things like field trips and school supplies, but isn’t allowed to pay for new teachers or programs that require new teachers. Superintendent Sandra Smyser met with principals at all of the district’s schools and found that people don’t want to allow such fundraising unless all schools would benefit, rather than just the school that did the fundraising. The board talked about whether setting up an endowment or grant would be a way to make fundraising reach schools equally. The board plans to talk about these ideas more at future work se


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