LAUREL, Mont. - Laurel Public Schools is bringing an $88 million, 20-year bond to voters. If passed, the bond would enable upgrades to the high school and elementary schools, including the construction of a new school.
Superintendent Matt Torix said the bond would allow for some remodeling and additions to the high school, including: new classrooms, a new wrestling room, upgraded CTE wing, updated locker rooms and remodeling to the library.
"We have some capacity issues in the high school," Superintendent Torix said. "We have some heating issues in the high school, obviously. We have some other things we need to address. This bond would address all those."
The bond would also address capacity and maintenance needs in the elementary schools.
If the bond passes, Graff Elementary School would be demolished and turned into green space. West Elementary School would get some needed upgrades, like new classrooms and a new gymnasium. A new elementary school for grades 3-5 would be built on Mogan Field (land the school district already owns). South Elementary School would be converted into an administration building. The current administration building on Colorado Avenue would be sold.
"One of the first things we started talking about were the issues at Graff," he said. "A student actually put their foot through the floor at Graff, a rotten subfloor."
He said they had an engineer look at all of the schools in the district. The engineer told them Graff Elementary School has foundation issues.
"Basically, our engineer said he wouldn't put a dollar into that school," he said. "That's definitely an issue. It's going to take a lot of money underneath that school and that doesn't even fix the problems we have above ground level. The best thing for the future and for our capacity issues is to look to build a new school."
"There are some large pillars under Graff that are about 2- 2 1/2 feet around," he added. "They all look like there's been a beaver chewing on them."
Director of Facilities Wayne Fjare described some short-term fixes they've done at Graff Elementary School:
"We had 2x12's that were rotting off at the wall level. We took and came in and we replaced all of those. Columns were failing down through the center. We came in and dug holes and put foundations in and additional columns."
"It's a minimal fix," he continued. "It's something that's not going to last for long. That's why it's so important that we get this bond passed, so we can build a new school and tear this one down. And turn it into some greenspace that is truly needed around here."
