School district hires investment banker for bond underwriting
Other items:
Calendar update
Board member Sherri Sweers shared that a calendar committee has spent the last several months studying potential changes to the district’s academic calendar, including altering start and end dates of the school year and reconfiguring the timing of school breaks or parent-teacher conferences.
The board’s packet included the results of a March staff survey about the calendar and information about the district’s calendar during the past 20 years.
The committee ultimately recommended the traditional calendar format the district used this year for draft calendars for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
“Change is hard,” Sweers said. “And I do sense the community was very resistant to anything that shortened the summer.”
The draft calendars will be considered for approval at the board’s June meeting.
Mountain Montessori
The board voted unanimously to release its interest in sponsoring the charter of a proposed Montessori charter school.
A Mountain Montessori Charter School steering committee has submitted its application for opening a charter school to Colorado’s Charter School Institute, which will decide in June whether to authorize the school.
The steering committee will hold a public meeting with CSI representatives at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Bud Werner Memorial Library.
Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs School Board Monday approved the hiring of investment banker RBC Capital Markets to provide the district with municipal bond underwriting services.
RBC has worked with district in the past, including on the 2006 bond measure to rebuild Soda Creek Elementary.
“This is a company that we have been working with the last several years,” Superintendent Brad Meeks said.
The district is looking ahead to a potential bond measure to fund one of three proposed options for new school construction. Hiring an underwriter is the first step to exploring tax impacts of the options under consideration, which range from $73 million to more than $100 million based on the type of new school construction and the scope of renovations at each existing campus.
The district received five proposals for municipal bond underwriting services.
“We felt that RBC has represented us well in the past, and we think they’ll represent us well in the future,” Meeks said.
Investment banker Dan O’Connell of RBC will work with district architect Matt Porta and engineer Jeff Chamberlin as O’Connell examines potential tax impacts of a bond measure. O’Connell is with the Denver branch of the Canadian-based company.
Porta and Chamberlin asked the school board Monday for more time to vet the options for school construction currently under consideration.
“We think we have more homework to do,” Chamberlin said.
Chamberlin and Porta had originally planned to provide a recommended option to the board at its June 1 meeting.
“I don’t think we’re going to be ready at the meeting on the first of June,” Chamberlin said.
The board agreed Monday to move Chamberlin and Porta’s next presentation to June 15.
Other items:
Calendar update
Board member Sherri Sweers shared that a calendar committee has spent the last several months studying potential changes to the district’s academic calendar, including altering start and end dates of the school year and reconfiguring the timing of school breaks or parent-teacher conferences.
The board’s packet included the results of a March staff survey about the calendar and information about the district’s calendar during the past 20 years.
The committee ultimately recommended the traditional calendar format the district used this year for draft calendars for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
“Change is hard,” Sweers said. “And I do sense the community was very resistant to anything that shortened the summer.”
The draft calendars will be considered for approval at the board’s June meeting.
Mountain Montessori
The board voted unanimously to release its interest in sponsoring the charter of a proposed Montessori charter school.
A Mountain Montessori Charter School steering committee has submitted its application for opening a charter school to Colorado’s Charter School Institute, which will decide in June whether to authorize the school.
The steering committee will hold a public meeting with CSI representatives at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Bud Werner Memorial Library.
To reach Teresa Ristow, call 970-871-4206, email tristow@SteamboatToday.com or follow her on Twitter @TeresaRistow
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