ALAMOSA — Alamosa School District’s (ASD) executive leadership – Diana Jones, superintendent, and Luis Murillo, assistant superintendent – met with a group of community leaders on Monday afternoon for input on a ballot measure, requested by ASD, for a $28 million bond to appear on the November ballot. The meeting was the first step in a much broader campaign to educate the public about the district’s needs.

The timing of the meeting coincided with a mass mailing sent to all residents in the district over the weekend that detailed why the funding would be needed.

If ASD decides to pursue getting the measure on the ballot and it is passed by the voters, ASD would have access to $28 million in funding for much needed maintenance of school buildings that can no longer safely be deferred and the ability to make important renovations and additions that will build on work already completed and grow student enthusiasm that is already on the rise, according to district officials.

Impact to property taxes would be roughly $5 per $100,000 actual value of residential property and $25 for commercial.

ASD’s Board of Education members have not yet voted on pursuing a ballot measure.

Gathered around a table at Linda Jalisco restaurant in Alamosa, Jones and Murillo laid out the situation to Joe Martinez, president of SLV Federal Bank; Lisa Lucero, civic leader and director of programs at SLV Area Health Education Center; Jamie Dominguez, Alamosa City Council member and co-founder of Shooting Stars Cultural and Leadership Center; Matthew Tulley, director of the SLV Joint Oversight Group; and Aaron Miltenburger, CEO and president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the San Luis Valley.

Jones told the group that district needs were identified in the Facilities Master Plan, which was finalized last February. Three years in the making with numerous meetings soliciting input from various stakeholder groups, the Plan now “serves as a road map for maintenance and investments in the district’s facilities.”

One of the district’s priorities in the Plan was construction of a new building to house ASD’s Alternative High School and the Alamosa Online School, two separate schools operating under the leadership of one principal.

For the past two years, those two schools have been located in the administration building while administration staff have been sharing office space with Early Childhood Council in a building on Santa Fe, some distance from ASD’s four campuses.

The decision to build a new facility was prompted, Jones said, by the district being told that the space on Santa Fe occupied by administrative staff was needed for other purposes.

Administrative staff obviously need office space, preferably closer to district schools, and the two schools need more classroom space. The only choice was to build a new facility for the Alternative High School and the OnLine School with a price of $12 million.

In what is yet another example of an executive leadership team that has become very adept at turning challenges into opportunities, Jones ended her recap of the situation with a significant announcement.

ASD has submitted a bid to purchase the Friday Health building located on Main Street in downtown Alamosa. The building, which housed the Friday Health Insurance company until it went bankrupt, is large enough to accommodate the administrative staff plus much needed expansion of Alternative High School and OnLine School, negating – should the bid be successful – the need to build a new facility. There is even the possibility of room “left over” to rent to someone else.

Topping off a win-win situation, the purchase price for the building is $2.3 million, almost $10 million less than the cost of a new building. “We’re saving $12 million by spending $2.3 million,” Jones said.  

The district is losing some enrollment, Jones said, as is happening in districts literally across the state. That makes expansion of the Alternative High School and Online School even more important as enrollment is not declining in those two schools.

The Facilities Master Plan also identifies the need for significant investments in infrastructure.

“We have between $30 million to $45 million in deferred maintenance and needs across the district,” Jones said. “These projects just can’t be put off any longer. Much of the equipment has lived past its projected lifespan.”

The Plan also calls for some much-needed additions, such as ADA compliant rest rooms, and renovations, such as bringing natural light into some of Ortega Middle School’s (OMS) classrooms that currently have no windows.

Murillo explained that priority projects like bringing exterior light into classrooms is based on research showing that darker, more confined classrooms can pose challenges to students who have experienced trauma in the past. It also builds on the excitement and boost in morale experienced by OMS students and staff when, for the first time, a renovated HVAC system allowed them to breathe fresh air in the classroom.

Both Jones and Murillo believe that, should a bond be approved by the voters, that would send a signal to the BEST grant selection committee that the community supports ASD, increasing the likelihood of receiving a grant for $10 million that had previously been declined.

Choosing to gather input on asking voters to approve a bond now, versus some other time, was a calculated decision on the part of the executive team.

“We have the momentum,” Murillo said. “This has been a year of celebration, starting off with the unprecedented, successful Back to School Bash and then the very encouraging results in the District Performance Framework. And then there was U.S. News and World Report listing Alamosa elementary and middle schools among the best in the country. If we’re going to make these investments, now is the time to do it, to keep that momentum going. We’re looking forward to hear what the community has to say.”

Martinez, Lucero, Dominguez, Tulley and Miltenberger were unanimous in their support of the bond and agreed to help Murillo and Jones with educating the public. “An investment in our community’s kids is an investment in the future,” Martinez said. “This is important.”

Additional meetings, forums and open houses will be held over the next few months. A decision to get the bond on the ballot must be made by August.