Consolidating High Schools Could Cost $9 to $13 Million
Analysis shows that the district would have to add on to one high school to accomodate all of the district high school students.
The St. Charles School District could expect to spend between $9 and $13 million to consolidate to one high school, according to analysis presented to the Board of Education.
Dickinson Hussman Architects and Brent Underwood, a retired superintendent, analyzed the viability of consolidating from two to one high school in the future based on expected trends in enrollment.
The district contracted with the group in the fall to study the issue because of a perception that closing one high school would save money. However, analysts found there would not be a substantial financial savings.
Neither high school has the capacity to accommodate students from both schools currently if the district wanted to continue to offer the same level of education, analysts said.
Today, about 747 students are at St. Charles West and 908 are at St. Charles High. Both high schools have a functional capacity of around 1,200 students.
The district would have to increase student-teacher ratios, add many trailer classrooms and drastically change its teaching practices to fit all of the students into one school, said Brent Underwood.
To continue with the same type of class sizes and schedules, the district would have to expand a high school, likely St. Charles West because there is room on the campus for such an expansion. Such an addition to St. Charles West could cost $9 to $13 million.
"It would be very difficult to expand or add on significant square footage to St. Charles High School," Architect Dwight Dickinson said.
Underwood said the district would be able to cut only a few jobs by consolidating schools and would not save a substantial amount of money in utility costs by mothballing a school.
Superintendent Jeff Marion said he didn't find any of the analysis surprising.
Marion said he knew neither high school could accommodate the enrollment of both schools. Adding on to St. Charles West would also add more students and more cars to a highly-congested area.
"I had a feeling that this (consolidating) wasn't going to make a lot of sense," he said. "And smaller schools are better, so if there isn't a huge savings, why would you go away from something that people strive to have?"
Marion said if there was a financial savings, he'd be the first to consider the combining.
"But I think it reaffirms that we wouldn't get an immediate and short-term financial gain that justified the educational impact that would be made," he said.
The Board of Education is expected to study the findings in more depth during the next few months.
Enrollment Expected to Decline
District enrollment is expected to decline from 5,091 students in 2012 to 5,039 students by 2022, according to projections from a demographer who offered a low, medium, and high enrollment scenario.
Under the "medium" enrollment expectations, St. Charles West would drop in enrollment from 747 students today to 690 in 2022. St. Charles High School would drop from 908 students in 2012 to 843 in 2022.
St. Charles High School can functionally accommodate 1,181 students if the district uses a block schedule, 1,355 if it returns to a 7 period day.
St. Charles West can functionally accommodate 1,114 students under the current block schedule and 1,277 students under a 7 period day.
In This article
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City of St. Charles School District Administrative Center
400 N 6th St, Saint Charles, MO -
St. Charles West High School
3601 Droste Rd, Saint Charles, MO -
St. Charles High School
725 N Kingshighway St, Saint Charles, MO
J S
6:55 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
What about the money they could have saved by not consulting? If Dr. Marion already knew this wasn't feasible, what was the point?
Jeff Marion
8:11 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
That is a reasonable question. Considering the potential financial and emotional impact consolidating high schools would have, we felt it very important to ensure that all factors had been thoroughly considered. Though my gut was telling me consolidation may not be financially advantageous, I did not have data to support that opinion. Likewise, others in the community did not hold that same opinion. It was important to get analysis from appropriate professionals, in this case an architect, to conduct a building capacity/functionality study....to put real numbers to the project. Making the wrong decision on a matter so important to the district could have significant long-term financial ramifications. If this study prevents the district from making an expensive mistake, it is money well spent. We owe it to the community to act on data and facts, not perceptions. I appreciate the question and the opportunity to clarify.
Jeff Marion
Superintendent
Stephanie
9:40 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
I would love to hear the conversation include options of combining grades on each campus. Right now, the academics are not equal at each campus because lack of teaching or students to fill courses. My son has to drive himself between both HS in order to take the classes that are only offered on one or the other campus. Can we really tell ourselves we are giving the best academic experience when we don't even offer a debate team at SCHS? There are NO academic quiz bowl opportunities. There are scholarship dollars available in those activities that our kids can't access. No one is championing the scholastic opportunity cost.. I see more concern over parking and practice field space. Sad.
Jeff Marion
9:54 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
The Board of Education discussed some of these very issues last evening as we were developing goals for the next five years. We will explore options for best utilization of the staff at the two campuses, perhaps based on student interests/career paths, etc. Many options will be explored. Personally, I am very interested in enhancing our opportunities in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Science (STEM) as well as academic based extra-curriculars, such as Quiz Bowl. We did have SCHS enter a team in the recent Science Bowl at Lindenwood. Thanks for your feedback!
Jeff Marion
Jane
2:21 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
A STEM AND academic extra-curricular opportunity that has been missed is having a FIRST robotics team(s). Every district around the city of Saint Charles sponsors teams of some level.
I spoke with the previous superintendent about it, but he did not express a lot of interest to get more information and became (more) ill shortly thereafter.
Jeanne Malmberg Spencer
10:13 am on Sunday, March 17, 2013
I agree with the need to get involved in FIRST. I've been trying to get a team sponsored for the past 4 years, as I have two sons who would love to be involved, one at elementary and one at Hardin. I would sponsor the team myself, as it's not very expensive to start up, but do not have the technical skills to proceed, as I'm much more of a comm arts person.
There is a lot of opportunity with math, science and technology, much more than sports. There is simply too much focus on athletics in this district and it's a shame. Athletics will get you a scholarship for school, but one still needs a professional skills to succeed. We have a great tech school, but lets get the kids involved earlier.
Glad to hear you support this Dr. Marion, as it is necessary. I'm unfamiliar with Quiz Bowl, but I hope the kids continue to participate.
LeAnn Heumphreus
9:41 am on Monday, March 18, 2013
River City Robots is a non-profit in Saint Charles County, and we work with community groups, as well as schools, to get Junior FIRST LEGO Leagues and FIRST LEGO League started. As of 2013, there were 41 FLL teams, 32 of which had at least 2 degrees of separation with River City Robots. We also mentor and help rookie FRC teams get started. Currently, we have a young lady from Christian High School on our team to prepare her for starting a new team at CHS in 2014.
@Jeanne, you don't need ANY technical skills for FLL, but it does help to comfortable around computers and browsers. There also may be some coach's training coming up, watch the stlouisfirst.org website occasionally for upcoming opportunities.
If you want to know about JrFLL teams, St. Charles Community College will be hosting a JrFLL Expo on April 6th.