The Greene’s Energy Building was recently purchased by Sweetwater County School District No. 1 for a new career and technical education facility. Photo courtesy of SCSD No. 1.
ROCK SPRINGS — Superintendent Joseph Libby updated the Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees about the recent $5.5 million purchase of the Greene’s Energy Services buildings for use as a career and technical education space Monday evening.
Libby said school leaders realized the amount of space at the high school wouldn’t be sufficient to contain an area for technical education that includes woodshop, metals, welding and other disciplines.
“We have an aviation program. We will have an agricultural program,” Libby said. “With the construction of the new high school … we only have so many square feet we can work with.”
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Libby said the district had 462 students that wanted to take woodshop classes, but the high school could accommodate only 200. Other technical classes have similar overflow problems where limitations restricted how many students could take a course.
“We don’t have the space in those programs to work with that,” he said.
We got a steal.
Joseph Libby, Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Superintendent
If the district wanted to add space for career and technical education, Libby said the district would be forced to seek a bond to build it. While the state facilities commission does provide funding for new school construction, districts are limited in what they can build with that funding. Anything beyond the specifications approved by the commission would need to be paid for by the district itself, with spaces such as tennis courts and pool facilities not being covered by the state. Libby said a facility dedicated to career and technical education would cost the district approximately $20 million to build.
Libby said the district worked with Kayla McDonald, its communications coordinator, who had previously been the economic development specialist with the Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition, to connect the district with a few locations it could utilize. Libby said the district started talking with the owner of Greene’s Energy Services about buying the buildings soon after looking at the facility. The first building measures approximately 43,000 square feet, with the second being about 6,000 square feet. The entire property is 18 acres. Libby said the district used general funds for the purchase, not funding earmarked for the new high school. The purchase will not take away from the new high school facilities.
“We got a steal,” Libby said. “We are saving funds for the community by doing this.”
Libby said the purchase allows the district to double down on its technical education instructors and get more students into those classes. He said the facility is on the same side of Rock Springs the new high school will be at, meaning the district won’t be shipping kids across town to attend classes.
New High School, More Athletics Space
The new high school will have space for career and technical education, but Libby said the original size of those rooms have been shrunk to repurpose the space, saying the struggle the district initially had was for enough activity space for students. Approximately 10,000 square feet in the new high school plans have been repurposed from career and technical education to athletics and activities. There will be a large weight room and wrestling room, as well as two 94-square foot gyms with spectator capacity for 1,400 people each. The additional space allows the district to host state events.
Regarding the new high school, Libby said the district is pushing to have the new school built in order to have the current high school on James Drive shut down within the next three or four years. A big reason behind that push is the cost associated with maintaining the building through its major maintenance funding.
“Just keeping the building online costs the district a significant amount of money,” he said.
He said there will be further discussions involving the community, but those discussions won’t impact the high school’s construction.
Pool, Indoor Track Not Included
Two things the school will lack is a swimming pool and indoor track according to Libby.
He said the district is pressing forward to rapidly start construction and adding a pool plus seeking a bond to pay for it would halt the architectural work going into the project, delaying construction.
“We can still go out for a bond for the pool, we can still build a pool on the physical site where the new high school is going … but we’re not going to delay the construction of the new high school to wait for a bond to go,” Libby said.
An indoor track facility also won’t be included, with Libby saying if residents want one, the district could seek a bond to pay for it.