The Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board unanimously voted during its Tuesday, July 11 meeting to begin the formal process of negotiating a lease-to-purchase agreement with Yavapai County for the former Big Park Community School in the Village of Oak Creek.

“Big Park is around the neck of the governing board and the district [as] a financial albatross,” board member David Price said. “In the future, if we continue down the path of owning Big Park as a district and managing [it] as a district, we’re not going to be able to maintain the facility, and it’s going to be dilapidated. And it’s not going to even be in a condition to be leasable.”

Board President Randy Hawley described the property as one of the main reasons that the district was $1.4 million in debt during the 2018 school year.

“Since then, we have an operating reserve, and we have been able to offer additional opportunities for our kids in terms of subject areas … and we’ve added almost 300 new kids in the last two years,” Hawley said.

The county has presented a non-binding letter of intent for the lease, which SOCSD has approved. Either party can terminate the process at any time. Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Donna Michaels, who has been spearheading the effort, informed the board that she was excited to begin formal discussions with residents now that the county is authorized to speak openly on the matter.

“I think a reasonable amount of time to project would be in a matter of months to have the appropriate information for a study session,” Michaels told the board. “Then thereafter a decision by the board, so I’m looking at months rather than years.”

The board voted to change the wording of the existing letter of intent to allow it to be able to further amend the letter of intent to allow for other negotiations for the sale or lease of any portion of the property with other interested parties.

“It’s all about diligence. What was not able to be embraced in a more public fashion can now be considered,” Michaels said following the vote. “It’s good news, it’s a reason to celebrate the community of Sedona, the Village of Oak Creek, but not just that, the surrounding communities as well, with some of the needed services that we will now be able to bring to our residents where they live.”

Michaels said she sees the property as an opportunity to bring public health services, such as telemedicine in conjunction with medical providers and Verde Valley Caregivers, to VOC residents.

Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office also wants to move a substation into Big Park. Michaels said that she doesn’t see a need for YCSO to present its own letter of intent to lease a portion of the property.

“As I understand it there’s a lease already on the desk, Sheriff [David] Rhodes signed, it’s ready to be executed,” Michaels said before addressing the needed repairs to the property including roof issues and retiling. “All of that [has] to be remediated. But [Rhodes is] committed to the 5,000 square feet that he’ll be occupying.”

“YCSO is one of the many groups that Donna Michaels invited to the campus for a tour [to] proposed that idea as a potential space for offering services,” SOCSD Director of Operations Jennifer Chilton said. “I’ve been in several meetings with them. In May, I drafted a potential lease to give them the idea of what that would look like, particularly so they would know the square footage of the rooms that they were interested in. That was just informational; there’s been no action or conversations since that time.”

YCSO does not have a move-in date because the roof repairs haven’t been completed, YCSO spokeswoman Kristin Greene said.

The Arts Academy of Sedona is interested in leasing the music classroom at BPCS and renting the auditorium for performances by the AAS-affiliated Emerson Theatre Collaborative. No action has been taken, but the proposal is expected to be voted on by the school board at a later date.

“We’re eager to get them going,” Michaels said. “I’m an advocate of the Emerson Theatre. They’re a fine nonprofit serving a larger community outside of the VOC. Hopefully the decision tonight [will] help us begin to advocate and expedite moving them in.”

Tom Swaninger 

The board approved a contract with Tom Swaninger for the superintendent’s position at an annual salary of $130,000. Swaninger said that his first day on the job will be Monday, July 24.

“Up until that moment, I’m splitting duties with Queen Creek [School District] and getting up to speed with my role here as superintendent,” Swaninger said. “I’m going to be commuting back and forth a bit before that. I’m looking forward to getting the family up here and getting started. I’m unsure on the exact timing of it, I may have to move up here and rent a one-bedroom because we’ve got to sell our house.”

Swaninger will be replacing former Superintendent Dennis Dearden. At least 10 superintendents have resigned this year throughout Yavapai County, including the heads of SOCSD, and the Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Clarkdale-Jerome school districts.

“I’m excited to get to know the teachers and especially the students,” Swaninger said “These campuses are beautiful. But the real energy comes from when the kids are on campus, that’s what I’m most looking forward to.”

Budget

SOCSD passed its $8.9 million budget with an 8% increase in teacher salaries during the meeting. The average SOCSD teacher salary under the approved budget will be $49,442, not including bonuses.

“We are conservatively estimating [a] 40-student loss for the district,” Director of Finance Stacy Saravo said. “We remain cautiously optimistic that [average daily membership] loss will be much less. Any additional ADM after the 100 day [mark] will be captured in a future budget revision. All of our staff received a three-step increase going into this school year. We also forecasted an additional 10% for rising energy costs, predominantly electricity.”

The district is optimistic that it will only lose between 15 and 20 students. Its cash reserves increased by 5% to $331,000 as a result of Dearden’s efforts to give his successor flexibility with regard to funding. The most significant change in the new budget is an addition of $1.5 million to its capital fund, which is a 73% increase from last year’s budget.