Guest Column: Meeker School District planning for the future

By Chris Selle
Special to the Herald Times
MEEKER | Though the 2016-2017 school year has come to an end, work at the school district continues over the summer. Of significant importance to our

community is development of the Meeker School District facilities master plan. As mentioned in my newspaper column a couple months ago, it is vitally important for our community to understand we have not engaged in this process with any predetermined outcome in mind. However, initial analysis of our buildings have confirmed that the focus of the master plan must be the bus garage and the high school.
No specific plans to address the deficiencies of these two facilities have been developed, as that is the purpose of the master plan. We know, in general terms, what deficiencies exist. These generalities were shared with community members in attendance at our June 1 public meeting. In the coming weeks and months we will continue to identify the specifics of these deficiencies as well as quantify appropriate remedies. More information, with more detail, will be shared at our public meeting scheduled on June 15 at 6 p.m. in the Meeker High School cafeteria. I would encourage any community member to attend and learn more about this process and the outcomes of the process.
In parallel to identifying the obvious deficiencies with our current facilities, the master plan process gives us a glimpse of what our facilities could potentially look like. In order to fully understand what is wrong with our current buildings, we sometimes need to be able to have a vision for what is possible. The adopted vision statement for the Meeker School District is “Excellence in All We Do.” This vision is not reserved only for specific aspects of our organization. In order to provide the best educational opportunities for our students, we must have and maintain excellent facilities. The facilities master plan will help us develop this vision while simultaneously help ensure we are intentional about the appropriate remedies to the high school and bus garage.
It is vitally important that the Meeker community understand the school district has no predetermined outcome for this process. Though we know Meeker High School and the Meeker School District bus garage must be the primary focus of the plan, the resulting actions could range from relatively simple procedures on our current buildings to the possibility of entirely new buildings. The school district greatly anticipates engagement from our community in the coming months. What comes from our facilities master plan will attempt be reflective of the diverse opinions in our community. Furthermore, it will help provide a pathway to excellent facilities in which our students learn, giving me one more reason to proclaim I am proud to be a Meeker Cowboy!