The second of three workshops that are intended to provide the framework for a district-wide master facility plan was held at Bayfield Middle School on September 25, 2024, and participants spent the time discussing the issues that have made a complete renovation and expansion of Bayfield Middle School a top priority for district leaders.
“The conversation at the school board and executive leader level has been that the district will seek a bond in the fall of 2025 that will be driven by the need for an extensive remodel at BMS,” Assistant Superintendent Bill Hesford said to kick off the session.
The initial meeting of the workshop team was held at Bayfield Intermediate School three weeks earlier, and the shift to BMS for the second meeting gave team members a chance to view the building’s condition and experience its challenges first-hand. The move from BIS, which was constructed in 2018 and showcases a modern educational setting, also provided a stark contrast between the district’s newest and oldest school buildings.
“This (Bayfield Middle School) is the building out of all the Bayfield schools that hasn’t gotten the attention that others have,” said Daniel Gartner of Chamberlin Architects, a firm that has performed a number of capital improvement projects in Bayfield, including the one that resulted in the construction of BIS.
BEST Grant and a Bond
As was the case at the first meeting, there was no disagreement over the need for significant improvements at Bayfield Middle School and Hesford presented the path district leaders have laid out to secure the funding necessary to undertake a large infrastructure project.
“There are plenty of things that could change, but we would be looking at our constituents to support a bond in the fall of 2025. We also fully intend to apply for BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today) grant funding starting in November, and grantees will find out if they were successful in May,” he said. “Whether or not we’re successful in our grant application will be the final decision-making point — or trigger — on whether we actually seek a bond election in the fall of 2025. If we are unsuccessful in getting a BEST grant, it feels like it would be a real toss-up .”
Hesford explained that the BEST grant could potentially fund as much as 35% of any project cost in Bayfield. That match is determined by a formula based on a socio-economic breakdown of the community. The district’s consultants pointed out that the grant program is highly competitive, and suggested the district may have to “take a couple of runs at it” before funding is secured.
The effort to come up with the other 65% of necessary funds through a bond election is also limited somewhat by the district’s remaining bonding capacity, but that challenge is lessened by the ability to remodel instead of rebuild to address the issues at BMS.
“We have two (bond) pieces that sunset in 2032 and one in 2036, so our bonding capacity is definitely a concern,” Hesford stated. “It would really limit us if we were talking about a brand new school instead of a complete remodel.”
Fortunately, many of the issues identified in the master facility planning process put the district on solid footing for seeking state funds and the seriousness of those issues may provide some competitive advantage when applications are judged.
“The BEST grant is really focused on safety and security,” Gartner said, and school board chairman Rebecca Parnell said she hoped the master facility planning process would address safety and security in all of the districts buildings.
It was very clear that there are a number of safety concerns at Bayfield Middle School, including a poor communication system, too many uncontrolled access points and a breezeway that presents both security and structural issues.
A vision for Bayfield Middle School
The consultants reported that they had also held conversations with staff members at BMS about educational adequacy issues, such as poor lighting and furnishing, narrow and congested hallways, circulation issues, teaching in spaces not designed for learning and the fact that administration is isolated from much of the building activity.
“We also don’t really have any space in this school for presentations, family gatherings or even athletic meetings. We do not have the ability to have guest speakers,” BMS Principal Marcia Hoerl said, noting that the building can only accommodate gatherings of 30 people or less because the gymnasium is not a suitable space for such functions and that the room’s acoustics are very poor.
“We are moving people to the Intermediate School because we simply don’t have the space to hold middle school activities here,” Superintendent Leon Hanhardt confirmed.
The ability to use a renovation and expansion to create space for staff collaboration or community gathering was one of the main things workshop team members seized upon when they broke into groups to identify needs and brainstorm ideas. A spacious common area or “cafetorium” feature seemed to enjoy favor among the participants, but the consultants also provided examples where smaller informal gathering spaces could be created.
“You can create invitations to get off to the side in circulation spaces. You can integrate spaces for students everywhere,” offered John Pfluger of Cuningham, the other consulting firm involved in crafting the district’s master facility plan.
Community members and school officials alike also wanted to explore options to create more hands-on learning space in the building, and consultants said it would be possible to accomplish multiple objectives through the design of the remodeling project.
“Think about how a large space can support multiple CTE (Career and Technical Education) pathways, and connectivity of these spaces may allow for community use after hours,” said Kari-Elin Mock of Cuningham, noting that designing flexibility and adaptability into the spaces is important. “These are things that are totally attainable.”
“Many of our clients are interested in featuring these kinds of spaces and promoting them,” Pfluger confirmed. He acknowledged that CTE spaces used to be relegated to the back of school buildings or isolated corners of campus, but that is no longer the case.
“They’re all generally at the center of the school now,” Pfluger reported.
Several people also mentioned a desire to create outdoor spaces that could be used for learning and gathering alike.
“A place to hang out is something we see a real need for at the middle school level,” Mock agreed.
When the conversation shifted to spaces outside of the building, many attendees pointed out opportunities to improve parking and traffic flow in the area around both BMS and BIS as potential ways to improve safety and security.
There was a great deal of interest expressed in improving the athletic facilities at BMS, and many attendees wanted to renovate the existing gym or build a new one. Most community members also said major improvements are needed at the football field and track, and there was a desire to make sure that suitable space was created for school wrestling programs as part of an overhaul of the school’s extra-curricular space.
Other facility needs
While the bulk of last week’s meeting was directed towards the challenges and opportunities presented by a renovation of Bayfield Middle School, the group did begin the session by revisiting the district-wide conversations that took place in the first workshop. The replacement of the HVAC system at Bayfield High School is one of the most pressing needs, and desired upgrades to athletic facilities and CTE spaces were also mentioned frequently.
“Technology was a major theme, and we heard a lot of interest about career and technical education,” Mock observed.
The district’s ability to address some of these other areas will be dictated by budget.
“We want to get an idea of what things (we want to address) in what order, and how much everything is going to cost,” Mock said.
Bayfield’s school superintendent also challenged the workshop team to significantly weigh the impact of proposed infrastructure projects on student learning and performance.
“We have been very intentional about making sure the Graduate Profile guides our direction,” he said.
A final workshop has been scheduled for October 29 at 5 p.m. at Bayfield Intermediate School, and team members will be presented with budget figures and asked to participate in a cost-benefit analysis to prioritize projects and determine a timeline for addressing proposed infrastructure improvements. They will also finalize a vision statement — which was drafted by a local subcommittee of the workshop team — based on input provided by stakeholders throughout the master facility planning process.
“We felt like a lot of people in the first meeting spoke up about their pride in the community and pride in facilities, and we want to make sure that really comes through in the vision statement,” Hesford said when the draft was presented to the group.
