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Dutton/Brady trustees move to close school |
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Wednesday, 27 February 2008 |
 CLOSING DOWN – The Brady School, which has seen better times, finally became a victim of declining enrollment and economics and will close their doors for good when school lets out for the summer. I-O Photo by Buck Traxler
The two districts, Dutton/Brady, officially became one on July 1, 2005.
That consolidation was driven by an additional funding of $257,000 for the first three years of consolidation by the state.
Now that funding will begin to dwindle and for 2008-09 the district funding will drop by approximately $65,000 and the same over the following year.
With an ever-decreasing enrollment, Superintendent of Schools Tim Tharp has estimated the district will need to cut about $80,000 from the budget.
The Dutton campus is the home to high school and elementary students with fifth through eighth grade students attending classes at the Brady campus.
In a school newsletter, Tharp commented, earlier, “I sincerely believe that consolidation has been a great success for our new school and our students. We have been able to offer expanded progress and small classes…”
It was noted that because of its continuous use since the consolidation, the Brady school building is in good shape and could be used by a variety of entities, from nursing homes to office space to a community center for the town.
However, the reality is that for any business to go in there it would take extensive retro fitting, and with a very good nursing home in Conrad, it isn’t feasible to try and covert the building to an extended care unit.
Brady also has major water problems that don’t make it attractive for a business to locate here.
There will be costs associated with the building even after it closes. In and outside maintenance will need to be done and heating of the building during the winter months to at least 50 degrees will need to be maintained.
School board member Kurt Dyer felt, “There should have been a mill levy vote of the people to deicide the issue.”
And while he said he couldn’t prove it, he also felt the vote was orchestrated before the board meeting.
Dyer also commented that he has seen a least two bills concerning school funding that will come before the legislature, “one with some sort of sales tax, and you can be sure there will be more funding bills to come.”
In what would be very ironic, taxpayers may possibly end up paying more taxes for closing the school than keeping it open.
“There is no black and white to closing a school,” he said.
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