On January 15, 2009, the School Board resumed their discussion regarding postponing the opening of Kolb Elementary. Dr. Stephan Hanke presented the most recent enrollment projects and stated that he expects east side schools (Green, Dougherty, and Fallon) to be unable to accommodate 182 pupils in 2010-2011 and 403 in 2011-2012 if Board action is not taken on February 10, 2009, to request bids from licensed contractors to construct Kolb. There was some debate among the Trustees. Some thought the numbers may be low, while others thought they might be high; however, all agreed that a shortage of available classroom space will definitely occur.

The issues around Kolb involve the $0.5 M in administrative operating costs for each school year versus delaying the bid and losing out on the very competitive bidding environment that currently exists. The only alternative is to keep Fallon a K-8 facility for one more year, and build relocatable structures at Green coupled with a permanent boundary change for students at Camp Parks and the Transit Center or forced diversions of Green and Dougherty students to west side schools. Should the decision wait another year, up to an additional 250 – 300 children will have to attend Green and Dougherty (most likely Green since space is an issue at Dougherty); at 25 students per classroom that is up to 12 relocatable structures. As we all know, once those structures are placed they often stay for a very long time.

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