Board will take more time to decide students’ futures

The Franklin School building will be demolished in three years, but the question of what will happen to the program and its students remains unanswered.

The Corvallis School Board voted 4-3 at a meeting Monday night to form a building and boundary review committee to consider options for Franklin’s future. That committee will first pursue funding from the state to pay for $1.7 million needed to make the former Harding Elementary School building as safe as all the other district schools.

The district will not use money left over from the 2002 facility bond measure to repair Harding.

If outside funding is not available, then the board would either disband Franklin, a popular kindergarten through eighth-grade program, or split it, with grades K-5 to merge with Wilson and grades 6-8 moving as a school within a school to Cheldelin Middle School in the 2009-10 school year.

The split vote came after more than two hours of deliberation by the board. The main points of contention were whether to use remaining bond dollars on a school that was not slated for repair when the district asked voters to raise property taxes, and determining the scope of what the building and boundary committee would consider.

The successful compromise was proposed by board member Sara Gelser, who said limiting options for Franklin would create a clear path for the district to decide what to do with Franklin in three years. Gelser said it was important for her to stick to spending money at schools that were included in the facility bond measure.

While the remaining bond dollars that would be spent at Harding would be 1 percent or less of the total $86.4 million measure, Gelser said she was bound by that promise to voters.

Superintendent Dawn Tarzian said there is still uncertainty over Franklin’s future in the board’s decision, but that that the board clearly supported continuing the program.

“I’m relieved that I didn’t hear anyone say, ‘Disband Franklin,’” Tarzian said.

Tarzian said the seismic grant funding was not a “silver bullet” and she emphasized that there is no guarantee Corvallis would receive money from the state.

The board moved up the demolition of Franklin to complete the Corvallis High School master site plan with money left over from the 2002 facility bond measure. The district’s long-range facilities master plan called for requesting another bond measure that included relocating Franklin to make room for CHS athletic facilities at the present Franklin School site five years after the completion of Phase I projects.

But there is enough money left over from Phase I to proceed with some Phase II projects, including relocating Franklin.

Most Franklin parents said they’d prefer the school move to Harding, which was closed in 2002 because of declining enrollment in the district, to save operating costs and because the oldest wing was rated as “high-risk” for life safety hazards in the event of a fire or earthquake.

Board members Gelser, Donna Keim, Helen Higgins and Blake Rodman voted to demolish Franklin in three years and to first explore outside funding to repair Harding before disbanding or splitting the program.

Board members Kari Rieck, Nell O’Malley and Matt Donohue voted against that plan.

At a glance

THE ISSUE: The Corvallis School Board has considered options for the future of Franklin School and the completion of the Corvallis High School site plan.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR: The Corvallis School Board voted 4-3 Monday night to demolish the Franklin building in 2009-10, allowing three years to consider whether to relocate the school or close it, and making room to complete the CHS site plan.

WHAT’S NEXT: The district will form a building and boundary review committee to pursue grants from the state to make seismic repairs at Harding School so Franklin could move there. If outside funding is not found, the district would either split Franklin, merging kindergarten through fifth grades at Wilson Elementary School and sixth through eighth grades to Cheldelin, or Franklin would be disbanded.