HANCOCK COUNTY – Mt. Vernon leaders have decided to construct a new building rather than renovate an existing one for the district’s new elementary school.
Where it will go and when it will be built remain to be determined. It’s estimated to cost more than $40 million, and it will serve as the foundation of a plan involving multiple projects to accommodate the district’s growth over the next several years.
Mt. Vernon has about 4,300 students and is projected to add almost 2,000 by the 2028-29 school year.
The school board decided last year to make room for them by creating a new elementary school, expanding and turning Fortville Elementary School back into an intermediate school for grades five and six, and making additions to the middle and high schools.
Board members were left to decide whether the new elementary school would come to be by renovating and adding on to the district’s administration building or constructing from scratch on a site to be determined.
Earlier this week, they voted unanimously to pursue a plan that calls for building a new elementary school for pre-K through fourth grade, estimated to cost $42 million.
Jack Parker, Mt. Vernon superintendent, said the architecture firm assisting the school district has designs for elementary schools that have already been built that would meet much of Mt. Vernon’s needs. By using one of those, the district could save a lot of preparation time and up to $500,000, he added.
“I do like the idea of using a plan that’s already been developed, especially if it’s going to save us that much money,” said Kellie Freeman, president of the school board.
The option of creating an elementary school by adding on to and renovating the administration building was estimated to cost $36.5 million, while turning the district’s transportation building into a new administration building was estimated at $3.8 million.
Tony May, a school board member, said one qualm he had about building new was that the administration building was already available to be used. After looking at a design proposed for the administration building and noticing that six of the classrooms wouldn’t be able to have windows facing directly outside, however, his stance began to change.
“I wouldn’t want my kids in an interior classroom; I wouldn’t want to ask a teacher to spend all day in an interior classroom,” May said. “I like the idea of reusing an existing design where we can almost pick it up and drop it someplace.”
Freeman also said a new building would likely have fewer surprises than renovating an existing one.
“There’s so many unknowns with a building when you start taking things out … you just don’t know what you’re going to get into,” she said. “If you’re building brand new, you’re getting brand new.”
At their December meeting, several board members were already leaning toward building new over renovating the administration building. Shannon Walls said she’s learned through her experience on the board as well as the McCordsville Redevelopment Commission that people are moving to the area because it’s close to where they work and because of the local schools.
“I can’t help but think that people expect a different level and a more innovative creative learning space, and I struggle with can we truly get that if we renovate this building,” she said of the administration property.
While the district’s plan doesn’t call for renovating the administration building into a new elementary school, it does call for mechanical, electrical and plumbing upgrades along with other work there, estimated at $2 million.
School officials and their consultants have said projects in the growth plan can be funded without raising taxes.
Officials also continue to emphasize that the projects’ timelines remain to be determined on the timing of the additional enrollment. Based on enrollment projections, the district has estimated work on the new elementary school could start as soon as the 2021-22 academic year and be complete in 2023-24, along with Fortville Elementary School’s switch to an intermediate school.
Board members also considered an option that proposed building a new elementary school for kindergarten through fourth grade at an estimated cost of $34 million. That plan estimated it would cost $8 million to renovate half of the administration building, where the district’s pre-K currently operates, to allow for more space for future growth in that program. The option included the $2 million estimate for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and other upgrades there as well.
At the school board’s December 2020 meeting, Parker recommended against that option, citing that the total cost estimate was the same as building a new elementary school with pre-K and doing the upgrades to the administration building. It also would have required operating a cafeteria in the administration building, he continued, adding pre-K would benefit from the support it’d receive in an elementary school.
