Campbell County school board members made it clear this week that the condition of the Campbell County High School building itself is “unacceptable” and needs to become a higher priority for the state.
Campbell County school board chairwoman Anne Ochs said the onus is on the state legislators to “advocate for our students and county.”
“Our high-mindedness by not pushing our legislators to get involved in this process has been huge because that has not always been the case around the state,” Ochs said. “If you have a powerful legislator who is in charge of certain committees, their facilities seem to get built and get built very well.
“I am asking our legislators in Campbell County to support our schools. We have to do something about Campbell County High School.”
The high school faces several expensive issues that remain in need of funds. The sewage and plumbing at the school at times closes bathrooms due to back ups in the pipelines. Part of the school doesn’t have any fire sprinklers in the hallways.
Campbell County has sent more than $1 billion to the state for what is used for maintenance of school buildings statewide since 1984 and around $120 million this year. Ochs said those dollars would go a long way toward fixing or replacing the issues at CCHS and that she wants to see more equity in the allocation of those funds.
The board was confused by the school’s drop in the School Facilities Commission priority list despite the issues that Ochs called “beyond belief” after the board meeting. CCHS dropped from 30th on the priority list in 2013 to around 170th in the most recent ranking. The transportation center dropped from fourth to 40th among what are considered non-educational facilities.
Ochs said school districts should rank their own buildings in terms of need and send those to the state.
Tours of Thunder Basin High School and Campbell County High School will take place June 28, before a June 29 meeting at Gillette College.
“I would encourage the school facilities group that is going to be coming up to look at the other 4A schools in the state and see if they see another 4A school — that deals with over 1,000 schools a day — see if there’s another school that’s in dire need that services so many kids,” Ochs said.
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