About 100 people attended the special Greene County School Board meeting at the intermediate building in Grand Junction Wednesday night.

Attendees first heard from Superintendent Tim Christensen that the district lost 50 students for the 2016-17 school year according to their certified enrollment. With funding from the state of about $6,600 per student, that means the district has a negative unspent balance of about $330,000 from the general fund. At the end of last school year, the district had a negative unspent balance of $208,041. There is a 101 percent budget guarantee offered by the state that allows a district one-year to execute a plan, as approved by the state’s School Budget Review Committee, before those funds are actually decrease.

Some of the ideas, as discussed by the Board, includes reducing the amount of teachers, eliminating vocational programs, limiting student’s access to college classes, operational sharing or closing a building. It was recommended to close the intermediate building and the savings would total about $333,183 without cutting a single teacher position. The Board is also not allowed to use physical plant and equipment levy funds or sales tax funds to make up the deficit in the general fund.

The Board then opened the topic up for public comment. A Rippey resident didn’t want to see the intermediate building closed because the same thing happened in Rippey and she said bad people started moving into their community and caused trouble. She would rather not see Grand Junction lose its foundation by closing the school. Grand Junction resident James Schultz thought the Board was being reactionary because Grand Junction residents voted down the proposed bond twice and yet the Board was in favor of closing the building anyway. Board member and former East Greene graduate Ashley Johnston said she didn’t want to see her school building close either, but when enrollment is declining, she thought closing it was the best option for the students.

There was also a few comments that Grand Junction residents thought that Grand Junction was at odds with Jefferson and that nothing else matters but Jefferson. Dr. Steve Karber, who is also on the Pay It Forward committee, said everyone has to work together to come to a solution and to not think of it as communities against each other, but what is best for the students.

There were other comments about fixing some of the structural problems with the intermediate building. However, several Board members said the problems might be fixed, but that still doesn’t solve their $330,000 deficit.

Following the discussion, the Board tabled their decision of whether or not to close the intermediate to next week when the Board holds another special meeting. However, the SBRC requires the district to present them with a plan to make up the difference in the general fund deficit by next Thursday.

Grand Junction Mayor Dave Kersey tells Raccoon Valley Radio what he thought of the situation.

“When I walked into the meeting I’ll be the first to admit I was totally against the closing of the school. I went to East Greene (School District) but the sad part is we’re down 50 students and they’ve got to make some cuts. Unfortunately the building was going to close eventually, I think we all know that, it’s just sad that it’s coming sooner than what we expected.”  

The Board also approved hiring Chad Morton and Betsy Wierdin as assistant basketball coaches for the winter season.

The next board meeting will be at 5:30pm on Wednesday, November 9th at the administrative building in Jefferson.