With roof in poor condition, K-W Elementary loses insurance

After a recent inspection found much of Kenyon-Wanamingo Elementary School’s roof to be in poor to failing condition, insurance company EMC has announced it will no longer provide insurance coverage for K-W Elementary.

Local insurance agent Todd Greseth and staff from SitelogIQ, a Minneapolis-based architecture, design and engineering firm, visited the Kenyon-Wanamingo Board meeting on Tuesday to discuss potential next steps including a potential referendum.

With Kenyon-Wanamingo Public Schools having fallen into statutory operating debt and repeated borrowing having limited the board’s ability to issue long-term facilities maintenance bonds, replacing the 34,000 square feet of roof dating back to 1995 and 2000 won’t be easy.

In total, replacing the dilapidated portions of the roof is expected to cost $1 to $1.2 million. A newer section of roof, which was installed in 2008 and is anticipated to have about six more years of life in it, could also be repaired for a grand total of up to $2 million.

While a failing, leaky roof may be an especially difficult problem for Kenyon-Wanamingo, it’s far from the only issue with the current elementary school located in Wanamingo. According to SitelogIQ’s presentation, the school is loaded with equipment badly in need of replacement.

Other equipment categorized as in a state of “alarm” (long overdue for repairs) include lockers which date back to 1970, interior finishes dating back to 1960 and 1970, and crumbling parking lots and driveways which date back 20 years.

At the Middle School/High School in Kenyon, major repairs are also. Though the building is overall in better shape, it is dealing with aged and failing air ventilation units, and could benefit from the issuance of special bonds authorized by the state.

Superintendent Beth Giese was very frustrated that legislators have not also provided most districts in the state with the ability to issue special funds for a failing roof. While Giese hoped that legislators would address the issue this session, they ultimately fell just short of doing so.

As the state has recognized, insufficient ventilation can lead to reduced student performance and greater spread of airborne disease. To protect students, legislators have created a carveout allowing boards to replace failing air ventilation units without having to secure voter backing.

Notably, Wanamingo site is only about one-third the size of K-W’s much larger Middle School/High School on the west side of Kenyon, maintaining a Wanamingo presence has always been important for the Board’s Wanamingo members.

Furthermore, while Kenyon is significantly larger than Wanamingo, residents of the latter community have often punched above their weight on the Board, and that’s certainly the case now with a majority of the Board having Wanamingo addresses.

As important as it may be for the small town’s morale, the cost of maintaining two sites is among the factors which led K-W into SOD status. As a SitelogIQ presentation slide noted, Kenyon-Wanamingo’s ratio of students to space is well above average.

Board Member Jamie Sommer warned that investing in significant repairs to the Middle School/High School but not the Elementary School would likely be taken as a clear sign from Wanamingo residents that the Board plans to eventually abandon its Wanamingo site.

By contrast, investing in millions of dollars of repairs to the Wanamingo site would reaffirm the District’s commitment to Wanamingo for the long-haul. But with K-W having already spent 60% of its allowance of Long Term Maintenance Bonds, that key funding source will be limited.

With K-W likely to spend the next few years digging itself out from the Statutory Operating Debt hole, a voter approved referendum which could take place as soon as this November would provide the likeliest viable source of funding for roof replacements at the Wanamingo site.

Board Chair Tonya Craig said that the public should understand that the referendum on the school bond issue would likely represent nothing less than an up or down vote on whether to keep the site in Wanamingo or switch to an all-Kenyon model.

“I think if it’s a failed referendum for fixing the roof in this building, the public has spoken on what they see as the future of this building,” Craig said.