A deeply divided St. Louis County School Board voted 4-3 on Monday to close the Orr School at the end of the current school year despite pleas by several in the audience to keep the school open until a new facility for Orr and Cook is ready.

“I’m sorry to say that I believe the board has just made a huge mistake and we’re going to regret it,” said School Board Chairwoman Zelda Bruns after board members voted with a show of hands whether to support Bob Larson’s motion to close the Orr School and combine students in Cook this fall. Larson’s motion was seconded by Lynette Zupetz and supported by Jody Feist and Gary Rantala. Chet Larson, Troy Swanson and Bruns opposed the motion.

Although cost savings was a factor, Larson cited potential educational benefits of the merger. “It isn’t just dollars,” said Larson, “it’s the educational offerings we can provide communities.”

But other board members feared the decision would increase tensions over an already contentious restructuring plan and affect future enrollment and potential support for future excess operating levies. The district’s existing levy, which raises $126 per student annually, is set to expire at the end of the current school year and will require voters’ approval for an extension.

“We’re going to alienate another community,” said Chet Larson, comparing the situation to the district’s decision to close the school in Meadowlands that resulted in a loss of students from that region. “We’re trying to do the same thing again. We just never learn.”

Financial analysis

Students in Cook and Orr were originally set to merge in a new school building in the fall of 2011 as part of restructuring plan adopted by the district and approved by voters in December 2009.

But unexpected delays in obtaining permits for construction of the new school delayed the project, which had been scheduled to start in May 2010. The district just recently received a variance needed to proceed with the building, with the new school now expected to be ready for students by the fall of 2012.

The board had two choices in the interim: Keep the existing schools open an additional year or combine students in one of the two buildings.

A financial analysis prepared by Business Manager Kim Johnson compared the options. Johnson said because the Orr School isn’t large enough to accommodate all students, the figures for combining students were based on housing students at the Cook facility.

According to the analysis, operating both schools another year would cost an estimated $4.928 million, while combining students in a single school would cost an estimated $4.63 million, resulting in savings of nearly $400,000. Most of the savings would come from reducing administrative, teaching and support staff, which Johnson said was based on a district-wide review of which employees were most likely to be affected. She said she used the district’s most current financial information in preparing the analysis.

The projected savings would be partially offset by increases in transportation costs, including hiring an additional three drivers at $79,187 and spending approximately $20,355 more on fuel costs.

Board members raised questions about some of the figures cited by Johnson, pointing to an anticipated savings of $83,560 through the elimination of a half-time teaching position.

Johnson said the elimination of a stipend for teachers in multi-age classrooms and reimbursement for teachers commuting between the schools accounted for part of the savings.

Johnson also said the district would save $46,476 with the elimination of a .4 FTE principal at Orr, but Bruns countered that the district was unlikely to see any. The adminsitrator in question is likely to be assigned other duties to remain full-time. Kevin Abrahamson, who is principal at Orr, also serves as the district’s curriculum director and that position could be bumped up to a full-time slot next year. Johnson acknowledged that was possible, but said that would be a board decision.

The district did not respond to requests for additional information on how Johnson arrived at her projected savings.

Meanwhile, nearly a third of the savings — roughly $122,606 — would come from no longer having to maintain or heat the Orr School.

Orr Mayor Dale Long said he was pursuing potential tenants for the school building and said maintaining the building’s integrity would be critical to that effort. “If the heat is on, the building will maintain better,” he told the board. “Looking at the interior walls, there would be some issues in a very short period of time.” He urged the board to keep the building open one more year or at very least, keep it heated.

Johnson estimated that providing full heat to the building for another year would cost about $37,000, but there could be cheaper alternatives by keeping the building heated at a minimum of 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

The building’s closure will also impact Orr citizens by causing a probable increase in water and sewage rates. Although the school’s closure would reduce the amount of water and wastewater requiring treatment, the district would no longer share in the treatment facility’s fixed costs.

Opposition to closure

At the outset of Monday’s meeting, Nett Lake School Board Chairwoman Dawn Benner voiced her opposition to closing the school. Benner, who has a sophomore attending Orr School, said moving students twice in two years would be disruptive and she said it would be easier for students to adjust to a new school than to be sent to Cook for a year.

She also informed the board that Nett Lake is conducting a feasibility study about the possibility of starting its own high school, and indicated that the board’s decision Monday might help sway whether Nett Lake would proceed with plans for a high school.

Carlene Chosa, also of the Bois Forte Band, shared Benner’s concerns and said parents may not send their students to Cook.

“ISD 2142 seems to think that Bois Forte doesn’t have any choice in the education system and they have to go to the Cook School,” Chosa told the board. “We just want to let you know that we have options.”

Bruns said the loss of Nett Lake students could have a tremendous impact on the district financially. Between tuition and special education payments through the federal government, she said, the district received $473,000 annually for Bois Forte students attending school in Orr. If even half that amount were lost, she said, any savings from closing the schools would be greatly reduced.

Bruns said she had received numerous phone calls from residents opposed to closing Orr and some had already said they planned to take their students to Virginia instead. Others had indicated they may enroll their elementary students in the Nett Lake School.

Nancy Parvi, who has taught in the Orr School since 1980, talked about friction between the two communities initially and how Orr and Nett Lake had forged a strong relationship over time.

“I worry that all that good work that we have done and spent so many years to build is fragile if we come together too soon,” said Parvi, who said closing Orr next fall could put the new school’s future at risk. “God forbid that we lose the Nett Lake community. Cook is going to be amazed at what we bring to the table and they are going to be less amazed if we don’t have our friends from Nett Lake.”

Parvi also said that while some educational opportunities may be delayed, the board shouldn’t underestimate what Orr would be able to do.

Kathleen McQuillan raised the same point and said she was bothered by the perception that Orr was of less value and expendable.

But others argued that there would be significant advantages to combining the schools next year.

At a study session the week before, Superintendent Charles Rick said merging students at Cook would eliminate the need for some interactive television courses, especially in foreign languages. “We’d have more face-to-face teaching time for all students,” he told the board.

Music programs would also benefit by providing more electives and allowing band and choir practices daily, he said.

Feist said on Monday she was worried that delaying educational improvements by keeping Orr open could cause some Cook students to leave the district.

Meanwhile, Indian Education Director Lowanna Greensky thought it would be more beneficial to combine students sooner instead of later. She planned to introduce a host of professional development programs to make instructors and staff more culturally sensitive to Native Americans.

“I just think I would have more buy-in from Cook teachers next year if they have Indian students in their building than I would the following year in a new building,” she said.

Bruns disagreed and made several passionate pleas to keep the school open. She suggested it would smooth the transition for students, noting that combined sports programs and flex scheduling next year would provide more opportunities for interaction between students from the different schools.

And she repeatedly reminded the board it had promised to keep existing schools open until the new schools were ready for students. “I just feel it’s a really important thing that we try to keep our word,” she told the board. “The board is losing all credibility with the public.”

Larson, however, countered that others in Orr had told him they were ready to move forward and valued the potential education gains over retaining a school in their town.