What should be done to help rebuild Highland High School?
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - A question facing the Pocatello-Chubbuck community.
What should be done to help Highland High School rebuild?
It's been nine months since Highland High School caught fire.
And it's been since November when a bond to help rebuild that school also went down in flames
The school district and Highland administrators are trying to help the school rise from the ashes. “Just trying to be careful. Trying to be wise with resources and trying to figure out what the most important needs are for the kids. I mean, the priority is the kids,” Pocatello/Chubbuck School District Board Chair Deanna Judy said.
Getting those kids back on campus in a functional high school is what's most important to Highland administrators, and School District 25 board members. They put their heads together at a special meeting this week to try and figure out the best way to make that happen.
“I don't think anything in our Pocatello Chubbuck school district is more important than this right now is making decisions that are going to impact kids for the next several years into the future,” Highland High School’s Principal Dr Bradly Wallace said.
The devastating fire in April destroyed the gym classrooms, the cafeteria weight rooms, locker rooms, and the band and choir room.
Governor Brad Little visited Highland High School earlier this month and saw firsthand what the students are dealing with.
The school does have insurance. Unfortunately, it would only rebuild the school back to the 1963 standards. That size isn't big enough for the students today.
“What our insurance will pay for, a room that would probably be maybe a middle school size, maybe smaller. Nowhere near a 6A school size,” Judy said. “So yes, we could pull it back like that. I think in my opinion, it would be very, very unwise use of resources. We have the opportunity to have the bulk of this paid for through insurance and then to make it up to the standard is what that bond would cover,” Judy said.
In a narrow margin. The voters said no to a $45 million bond that would rebuild Highland, and also build a new gym at Century High School. The addition of the Century project may have been what doomed the bond.
“Thousands and thousands of comments, I mean I don't remember the number, but there were so many comments and by far, the number one reason that people did not vote for it was because we added an extra project onto it,” Judy said.
If the school board decides to put another bond on the ballot in May, they plan to remove the Century gym project. The school board is still exploring the options. They say they want to make sure they're transparent with the needs and what the funds would be going toward to get a bond passed.
The school district is still considering options before making a final decision on another bond.
