As many of you are aware, the Kane County School Board is in the process of collecting critical information in relation to the two potential building sites for the new elementary school in Kanab. In January 2020, the board advertised a public hearing in the SUN newspaper asking for public input on the site selection of the new elementary school. On February 5, 2020, the Kane School Board held a public hearing designated specifically to listen to the public’s thoughts and preferences on the two sites. Additionally, the board solicited emails, letters and comments from the community, which have been collected and made available to them for their consideration.
In February and March, the Kane County School Board interviewed architects and general contractors for the new building project. Hughes Construction was selected for the Construction Manager/General Contractor, and Naylor, Wentworth, Lund was selected as the architects for the new elementary school. Based on the recommendations from Hughes and Naylor, soil samples were collected at the Ranchos and current downtown site, where the results of these samples were presented to the board in their May meeting. Based on the initial findings of blue clay (Ranchos) and poor soil samples (current location), it was recommended to the board to conduct additional core samples. Results from the second round of core samples will be presented to the Kane County School Board in their June meeting with estimated costs for soil removal and compaction at both locations. Please know that neither the board nor the district has access to these reports at this time, which will be a critical factor in the site selection of the new school as these estimates may exceed millions of dollars in soil over-excavation before the school is built.
Please know that the Kane County School Board understands the gravity of the situation in the selection of the new elementary school site, as it will be a permanent structure for more than 50 years in our community. With such an important decision to be made, the Kane County School Board plans to read every comment, review every detail, and evaluate the pros and cons for each site before a selection is made based on factual information. Once the site is selected, we hope we can all agree that a new school will be a major improvement over the old school and will be a positive addition to our community.
If you have comments you would like to send to the board for their consideration, please email me at: daltonb@kane.k12.ut.us or you are welcome to come by the district office where I would be happy to meet with you.