The Thompson School board will begin talking about closing Van Buren and Stansberry elementary schools, the smallest in the district, as the district tries to cut expenses with the failure of a bond issue and not enough state funding for education.

If the decision is made to close the schools, the students would be transitioned into other schools, and Van Buren and Stansberry would close for the 2018-19 school year.

While none of the school board members relished the idea of closing schools, all agreed they should look at this option in light of the district budget, which has been pulling from reserves each year.

“All of this gives me a certain amount of heartburn,” board member Denise Montagu said at the Wednesday school board meeting.

“We gave the community the opportunity to make these things not happen, but now here we are, and we have to make these tough decisions.”

The district is facing $72 million in deferred maintenance for aging buildings that need roofs, floors, air conditioning and much more, is losing teachers to surrounding districts due to a gap in salaries and is facing the need for new schools in the north and east to handle growth.

A bond issue and mill levy override that were before voters in November would have addressed these issues. However, both tax increases failed by a wide margin.

So, the district has begun discussing other options.

Among the possibilities is to close Van Buren, which has 138 students, and move those children to Centennial and Namaqua elementary schools, and to close Stansberry, which has 193 students, and move those children to Monroe and Mary Blair elementary schools.

This would shuffle students from schools that are considered “under enrolled” to other buildings.

Considerations before the board, in making the decision, are what the moves would save, what the option would mean for bus routes and what the district would do with the empty buildings. This discussion will continue at the next meeting on March 1.

The board also is considering moving the fifth-grade students in Berthoud to Turner Middle School, at least temporarily, to open up room in Berthoud and Ivy Stockwell elementary schools for more students to handle growth in that area of the district.

Board members have asked what it would cost to add modular classrooms instead before deciding whether to support his issue. Again, discussion will continue March 1 as board members make what Superintendent Stan Scheer described as “gut wrenching” decisions.

Instead of looking at school closures, district staff members noted that the board could go back to voters in November 2017 and ask for another bond issue for maintenance and new schools. None of the school board members voiced a desire to do that, at least not this year.

Some mentioned the margin by which the last tax issues failed as a message from voters to make other choices.

Others said raising salaries for underpaid teachers, which was tied to the mill levy override and not the bond issue, is a higher priority.

“My bigger concern is the employees of the district,” said board member Jeff Swanty. “I have a hard time voting on a bond when we haven’t taken care of employees.”

And still others said they do not, yet, have complete information about why the taxes failed.

Gathering that information from the community is underway.

The district has paid about $19,000 to consultant Cooperative Strategies, which will release online and mail-in surveys and hold six community meetings to find out why the tax issues failed. Questions the consultant plans to answer include: Did people understand the needs? Were the requests too high? What would community members like to see?

The schedule of public meetings is not yet firm, though the first is likely to be held next Friday, Feb. 24. Details on the time and location as well as meetings each of the following five weeks are pending.

Board members stressed the importance of reaching out to all community members and not just families with students in the district, perhaps by using voter records for mail-in surveys, as well as by using social media and traditional media to reach residents.

“It’s very important information to have, but I want to make sure we get it from the right people,” said Lori Hvizda Ward, the board president.

“It’s the people that are the hardest to ferret out that we need to hear from.”

Pamela Johnson: 970-699-5405, johnsonp@reporter-herald.com, www.twitter.com/RHPamelaJ.