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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL - MARCH 29, 1999 4 carpeting which is duct taped down in some areas. Additionally, the parking lots have large . holes that have been patched for some time and now the lots need to be replaced. Dr. Witthuhn explained that three years ago a district wide study group looked into why the School District was falling behind on maintenance. One conclusion was that $1 million dollars per year in capital funds is not enough. One half of this money is used each year for textbooks, computer software and other capital expenditures. This leaves one half of a million dollars to spend on maintaining the facilities and this money does not go very far. As a result of the district wide study, the School District created a Board policy to set aside a percentage of the one million dollars to address deferred maintenance issues. Councilmember Malone confirmed that the $80 million proposed for the Bond Referendum is based on estimated costs. Dr. Witthuhn stated that this was correct. Councilmember Malone asked what would happen if the actual costs were less, such as $70 million dollars. Dr. Witthuhn stated that the School Board would have two choices. Either additional needs could be considered, or it could be decided not to sell the Bonds and retire them early. . Councilmember Aplikowski requested additional information regarding the flexible instructional space being proposed for the elementary schools. Dr. Witthuhn explained that in the past, classrooms had involved 20 to 30 students with one teacher. Now, there are times throughout the day when children meet with specialists. Public schools have been given many tasks over the last 20 years including physical therapy, occupational therapy and various counseling work and othcr Federal Programs designed to work with at-risk students. These programs involve small groups of students who leave their classrooms for part of the day for special services. One of the challenges is where to conduct these special services. The flexible instructional space allows walls to be redesigned and moved around to readjust the layout of rooms as needs change. Additionally, as class sizes change, and possibly get smaller, this approach would allow rooms to be made smaller at minimal cost. Councilmember Aplikowski asked if this process would involve tearing down the current walls inside the buildings. Dr. Witthuhn stated that this would vary from site to site. One issue is the need for a large media center that is not available in all locations. In order to provide this space, some areas must be retrofitted to be made larger and some areas would be made smaller. . Councilmember Larson noted that school districts tend to go through ebbs and flows with regard to student population. He asked what the future looks like for the School District 621 population over the next 20 years. Dr. Witthuhn stated that School District 621 has been very stable over the years and is, for the most part, fully developed. She noted, however, that the future status of the Arsenal could impact this. The large population of students is now moving trom the Middle Schools into High Schools and the elementary classes are somewhat smaller. Over the last several years the School District has been turning away students from other districts wishing to come in under open enrollment. Therefore, even if a small number of spaces were available within the District, students outside the District would fill them.