Moscow seeks advice on aging school facilities

As the Moscow School District decides what to do with its aging buildings, it is learning from the Lewiston School District’s mistakes and successes with building a new high school.

The Moscow School Board on Tuesday listened to Lewiston School District Superintendent Lance Hansen share his district’s journey to passing a $59.8 million bond for a new high school in 2017 after previously failing three times.

Hansen spoke about the importance of keeping the district’s message to voters simple and clear in order to earn yes votes.

“Doubt equals ‘no,’ ” Hansen said. “Unclarity equals no, to me.”

Lewiston School District failed to pass a bond in 2004, 2010 and 2011. Hansen said voters believed the old building’s maintenance problems, like rusty pipes and leaky roofs, were fixable and did not necessitate a new school. He also said the school district almost never had bond debt up to that point.

To sway hesitant voters, Hansen said the district pivoted away from focusing on the faulty pipes and roofs, and instead focused its messaging on how a new school can deliver a better education to students.

“Do we have what it takes to deliver what our community expects?” he said.

In Lewiston’s case, that meant asking whether the old high school building could support a shift to a grade 9-12 model. Hansen said it became clear during two town hall meetings in 2013 that the community preferred a 9-12 school over the old junior high school model.

The district also analyzed how much it would cost to remodel the old high school. Hansen said this would have cost $90 million, which far exceeded the price of building a new school.

With its sights set on a new school, Hansen said Lewiston School District had to answer four important questions from the community: What is the district going to do with the old high school building, are athletic venues included in the bond, are career technical training facilities included and will local contractors be hired to do the work?

The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Lewis-Clark Valley bought the old building, athletic venues were paid for with other funding outside the bond, a new CTE facility was built and local contractors were hired.

Hansen reiterated that if Moscow School District wants to build a new school, it needs to clearly and simply show why a new building is necessary. It also needs to identify and answer the big questions from the community.

Moscow School District Superintendent Shawn Tiegs said he wanted to seek Hansen’s advice so that if MSD seeks a similar bond, it does not “stumble” for many years while attempting to do so.

All of Moscow’s school buildings are older than 50 years.

The school board plans to discuss this issue again during its board meeting at 7 tonight at the district office.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.