Wauneta-Palisade choices past, present and future
    
    This is the first in a series of articles examining the Wauneta-Palisade school district. This week, decisions we need to make right now. Next week, a look at previous merger decisions.
    
    
    By Emily Hoffman
    The Wauneta Breeze
    
     On the agenda for Monday's Wauneta-Palisade School Board meeting is a discussion/action item to put a vote to the people to move the kindergarten through fourth grades attending in Wauneta to Palisade.
     The issue, discussed last month at the regular WP board meeting, was tabled until the March meeting so WP Superintendent Charles Isom could ask some legal questions of the school's attorney.
     The question of concern is what town votes if, down the road due to enrollment concerns or building code issues, the kindergarten through sixth grade had to be moved to Wauneta.
     Isom indicated that a vote would have to come from both districts if a move were to happen down the road, but added that the original merger agreement could be amended to allow the school board to make that decision.
     Any change to the original merger agreement would also take a vote of the people across the WP district.
     For the issue at hand, moving the Wauneta elementary to Palisade, the original Wauneta district must mark a ballot to make that decision.
     Isom doesn't know if the school board will pursue a vote to move Wauneta's kindergarten through fourth graders to Palisade. He does know what will happen if they don't.
     "If they don't go for a vote, we'll combine classrooms and go from there," said Isom.
     Changing classroom structure is the only option open to Isom without a vote.
    
    Enrollment numbers
     No matter what the vote, four positions in the WP district will be RIFed for the 2005-2006 school year, saving the district about $175,000.
     Isom indicated that because four facility members are taking early retirement, and due to some shuffling of current staff, no personnel will be given a pink slip.
     "Unless someone wants to quit, we should be able to keep all the teachers on staff," said Isom.
     For how long, is another question no one has the answer to right now.
     Just looking at the enrollment numbers projected in the school's Annual Report for the 2009-2010 school year, the total K-12 student population will be 166, that's if no one moves away, home schools or options out of the WP district.
     Accurate projections can't be made past that date, because no one can predict how many babies will be born, or who will move into or out of the area.
     As it stands right now, the graduating class of 2022 will have four, in 2023 six will be graduating and in 2024, possibly eight.
     About 15 years ago, during the 1990-91 school year, the year before the merger agreement, Wauneta's total student population hit 246.
     Total enrollment in Palisade before the merger totalled 93.
     Due to legislation passed in the Unicameral in 1991, Palisade was being forced to contend with their low enrollment numbers.
     The legislation which was adopted reduced the number of years that a high school can have a total enrollment of less than 25 from three years to two. Palisade would hit that two-year limit during the 1991-1992 school year. The school district, by law, could not continue as it had been.
     The year following the merger, Wauneta-Palisade's enrollment was 318 and has been steadily declining ever since, with some up and down fluctuation depending on the year. Current enrollment for WP K-12 is 242.
     Eligible kindergarten students for the fall of 2005 are 14, with five from the Palisade area and nine from the Wauneta area, according to numbers from Isom, which differ slightly from the numbers in the WP Annual Report.
     According to the report, in the fall of 2006, there will be five eligible kindergartners in the entire district, in 2007-four, in 2008-six and in 2009-eight.
    
    Option-combine classes
     There are three options that Isom has discussed to deal with declining enrollment and fewer state-aid dollars at Wauneta-Palisade.
     The easiest step-because it requires no vote-is to combine elementary classes and keep each attendance center open. That would mean each school would have a kindergarten, a first/second grade class and a third/fourth grade class.
     Combining classes would allow a cost savings of roughly three positions. The school is RIFing four positions, but "would shuffle to provide more opportunities for our 7-12" if classrooms weren't combined, according to Isom.
     The cost savings would be $125,000.
     Isom indicated that this was the option he considered first, since each town could continue an attendance center and no vote would be needed to implement the plan.
     As he began talking, and listening to school district parents, it seemed to Isom that moving the students to Palisade, was actually the most popular option.
    
    Option-all K-6 in Palisade
     To move K-4 students being taught in Wauneta to Palisade and create a single K-6 elementary attendance center the district would save $175,000 through the RIFing of three positions.
     If students from Wauneta are moved to Palisade there would need to be a vote approval from those residing in the original Wauneta district.
     Isom noted that by moving the elementary to Palisade, it would free up room so that "we do not have to hold classes at the 7-12 level in computer lab in Room 9."
     With this option, Palisade would have all the grade school students, and Wauneta would continue to teach grades 7 though 12.
    
    Option-all K-6 in Wauneta
     If the Palisade Attendance Center closed and all the students were bused to Wauneta, the district would save an estimated $229,871 with the move.
     Four teacher positions would be RIFed at a savings of $175,000. By closing the Palisade building the district would save annual operating expenses totaling $34,871.76.
     If all students are combined into one building some classified staff, a janitor, a part-time cook and a part-time aide, would not be necessary, saving the district another $20,000 annually.
     This option would put all students in the district in Wauneta and call for the Palisade building to be closed.
     Isom said there is enough room in the Wauneta building to house all the students.
     This would require a vote of the original Palisade district.
    
    Busing numbers
     Those being bused into the Wauneta Attendance Center on five separate bus routes total 69. There is no breakdown on how many of those are elementary students.
     There are currently 34 students being bused to the Palisade Attendance Center.
     There are between 19 and 23 students being bused to Wauneta on the shuttle bus, which carries students in grades 7 to 12 to Wauneta.
     There are 21 students riding on the shuttle bus from Wauneta to Palisade to attend fifth and sixth grade in Palisade.
     Budget savings or extra expenses in busing have not been calculated for the three different options.
    
    Option numbers
     Currently there are 40 students that live within the WP district limits that option out to other schools with 25 of those students having never attended school at WP.
     There are 32 students from the east end of the district that have opted-out, and eight from the west end of the district.
     Those opting-in to WP total 15, bringing the net number of option-out students to 25.
     According to Isom, most of those opting-in are coming from the Hitchcock County Unified School District.
     The district loses approximately $6,500 per option-out student.
    
    What it all means
     Due to declining enrollment that is projected to continue, and a loss of state aid that will continue as enrollment declines, the district must take action of some kind to cut costs.
     If the board votes at Monday night's meeting to put a vote to the patrons of the original Wauneta district to move the K-4 to Palisade, then there will be a 60-day waiting period after the school board's intent is published until a vote can be taken.
     If the board chooses not to pursue a vote, then the classes will be combined for the 2005-2006 school year since there is not time for any other action to be taken, according to Isom.
     Monday's board meeting will be at the Wauneta Attendance Center library at 7 p.m. MT/8 CT.