Letter to the Editor: This is the only viable option for a new elementary facility

(Decorah School Board President Ron Fadness has submitted the following Letter to the Editor):

"High school graduation is fast approaching, and with it the end of another school year.  The class of 2017 will transition to the next phase of their lives, and soon, another group of students will begin their educational journey as kindergarteners.  Unfortunately, those kindergarteners will begin their journey in a building that is much like it was when I began my journey there in the fall of 1970.  

As a school district, we have much to be thankful for.  The accolades bestowed upon our schools over the last several years and the achievements of our students academically, athletically and in the arts testify to the many strengths of our school system.  We are blessed with an excellent teaching staff, and the support of a community that recognizes the importance of education.  We have been able to create facilities that will meet our needs well into the future.  The building some of us knew as Decorah High School and others of us knew as Decorah Junior High was renovated for its current life as Carrie Lee Elementary School.  A new middle school was constructed, and the high school (which began its life in the 1950s as an elementary school) was remodeled and expanded into a facility that will serve our high school students well into the future.  

The school board has put many hours over several years into the process of evaluating our elementary facilities, including West Side.  Along with our community advisory group, Shareholders, the board has given extensive consideration to our needs, our existing facilities, and the options to bring our elementary facilities into line with the rest of our school buildings. The goal is to assure that our youngest students are able to begin their educational journey in a school suited to the needs of elementary education for the next fifty years.  

A wise individual once warned me that to any complex problem, there will be obvious solutions, which are, upon thorough consideration, completely unworkable.  That is certainly true in this case.  Due to a variety of factors, many ideas that seem workable are not.  I encourage you to seek out the Power Point presentation on the district website www.decorah.k12.ia.us for further information.  Some relate to size requirements, some relate to financial constraints, and some relate to logistical factors, such as traffic flow.  If you think traffic is difficult in the Claiborne/Heivly area, imagine moving it elsewhere in town!  

After much study and deliberation, I believe that the only viable option is to build a new elementary facility to replace John Cline and West Side on the area currently occupied by the existing John Cline, the tennis courts, the softball field and the city parking lot.   A redesign of traffic patterns as part of a new elementary school will separate bus traffic from the parent dropoff area, and separate high school traffic from elementary traffic to the extent possible.  The net result would be increased and improved green space in the area, which would be located on the east end of the site.  As with Carrie Lee, the playground would function as a de facto city park.  

I believe that nothing is more important to the future of our community than the education of our children.  It is my most fervent hope than on an August day not too far into the future, a new class of students will begin their educational journey in a facility that meets the needs of the next fifty years."