SCSD#3 Listening Session Topic is Arvada Elementary School

On Feb. 6, at 6:30 p.m., the SCSD#3 quarterly listening session featured the Arvada Elementary School, which is currently mothballed for lack of students. However, a decision to open it or keep it mothballed has to be made soon. Nearly 20 people attended the meeting, and there was a great deal of discussion on the issue from the attendees.

The Arvada School had been in operation since July of 1892, first as an elementary and later adding a high school. During the consolidation of rural schools in Wyoming, in July of 1971, the Arvada Jr. High and High School were combined with the Clearmont High School, and renamed Arvada/Clearmont. However, due to the long distances to bus the elementary students, the Arvada Elementary School remained open.

SCSD#3 Board Chairman Wade Betz opened the discussion, saying that the board wanted to get input from the attending area residents.

SCSD#3 Coach Tiffany Greear opened the discussion by asking if the school could be mothballed again, and how many kids would be needed to re-open the school, and what would happen if the school closed and could it be reopened.

Betz said that they only have the option to mothball it so many times so the board has to make a decision on this. Superintendent Chase Christensen said that it was his understanding that the school could be mothballed for three more years.

He also said that the state did not have a clear answer as to whether or not closing the school would mean less or more money for the district.

He said that as far as the major maintenance funds it would make little difference whether or not the school was opened, although the school would need some maintenance before they could open the doors.

Christensen added,

The third option would be shutting the school down and selling off the assets there. It was unclear as to where the funds from the sale would, either to the state or to the school district.

Betz added that selling assets has always been a cloudy issue. Christensen said legislation had been passed in the last five years states that the money from such assets has to flow back to the state, but he would have to have further discussions on the issue.

Betz said they would have to be very clear on what would happen before they sold the land and the school building. Betz felt that if they sold the assets the district should benefit from the sale as much as possible.

One question from the floor was what the capacity of the schools was and if there is growth in the area, and Christensen said that currently Arvada-Clearmont school is under capacity for students, and if growth occurred, they could take more students.

Another question was about consolidation, and Christensen said that currently there are no plans to consolidate Arvada-Clearmont. He added that it is always there as a potential, but the board and superintendents have been working hard with legislators to make sure there is local control of the Wyoming schools. “I haven’t seen consolidation on the legislature agenda since 2019,” he said.

Christensen said this about the state.

There was also discussion about how many kids it would take to open the school in Arvada, and no one had a target number. Betz felt it would be hard to justify opening the school if the attendance was only in single digits due to the expense per student. He added,

Some comments from the floor also concerned how far the busing would be for the younger kids, and they would benefit from the Arvada school being opened.

Christensen felt that to reopen the school there would need to be updated classroom infrastructure, such as the network. Betz also wondered if busing the kids to Clearmont would be cheaper. There were comments from the floor about people homeschooling the students if there was not a school in Arvada, and that once the parents began homeschooling, the students may not transition into Clearmont but would continue to be home schooled.

Jim Fennema, Clearmont area rancher whose children attended Arvada-Clearmont said this about homeschooling.

Betz added that folks homeschool for many reasons other than the fact that there is a school close to them. “I agree, sometimes it is hard to get them out of that groove.”

Another question raised was one teacher who would be teaching multiple grades, and Gina Hackett area resident, had this comment,

Another question was what the capacity of the school was, and Christensen said around 30 students.

When asked how many students if would take to reopen the school, Betz said they were not hung up on numbers, and added that when they did ‘mothball it’ it was because there were no students. The year before there were three students and the school was kept open. One question asked was what if the board did close the Arvada School.

Betz answered,

The school board will vote on the issue at the next board meeting, on February 14, on whether to continue to mothball the school, open it if there are enough students, or shut it down.