ROCK SPRINGS – Updates about the new Rock Springs High School were released during Sweetwater County School District No. 1’s board meeting Monday evening which led to the board tempering expectations on having a new pool facility with the building.

Trustee Dr. Cole Seppie said the biggest questions the board receives involve the new high school. 

Seppie said the timeline is dependent on the construction phase the district is in. When the satellite high school was built, the plans were drafted for approximately 95% of the entire building.

Dr. Seppie said the state has changed how portions of school buildings are built since then – now requiring certain rooms such as cafeterias and libraries be built on exterior walls. This has forced the building plans to be changed. Seppie said the district is working with the original architects to accomplish those changes. Seppie also said the district has to show the state it is saving money by reworking the plans, saying if the district accomplishes that goal, it can move faster in the construction process. If not, the district will go back to the request for proposal  process, which would lengthen the time needed to build the school. A new architect would likely be brought onto the project and start from scratch.

If the state allows the district to move forward with its current architect, Dr. Seppie said  construction would begin within eight to 18 months. With a new architect, it would be much further out.

“If we go in to a new architect, we’re talking two, two and a half years before we could even start construction,” he said.

The district believes it would take between two and two and a half years to build the new high school, with Dr. Seppie saying the district anticipates somewhere between four and a half to five years before the school can be built and occupied. 

Dr. Seppie said the district has received questions about the facilities as well, which are also dictated by the state. 

“It is very interesting, and I did not know this before I became a board member, but the state actually determines how much space we are funded based on our student population,” he said. “Because of that, they decide how much space our classes have … then we are given a total square footage and then we get to decide somewhat of how we utilize those spaces.”

Dr. Seppie said the district can choose to use its square footage however it wants, saying when Eastside Elementary and Pilot Butte Elementary were built, the district opted to create larger classrooms in those buildings. That move has caused some issues however.

“In the long run, it kind of ended up biting us in the butt,” he said. 

He said because they built larger buildings, the state told the district it had to put more students in those newer buildings. Some schools are complaining they are overcrowded, but Dr. Seppie said the state disagrees. With the new high school, Dr. Seppie said the district is working to be “more judicious” in how it utilizes space.

Pool May Be Difficult to Fund

The district only receives a single gym through the state which meets a minimum standard that has to be met. Dr. Seppie said the district would have to partially fund building a larger gym space using sources such as the district’s recreation board. While a football stadium would be provided by the state, a pool and tennis courts would not. For those facilities, the district would need to find money to pay for them. 

Pool construction itself isn’t new in Sweetwater County. In Sweetwater County School District No. 2, the Green River High School Aquatics Center was built after voters in the district approved a mill levy to pay for revenue bonds used to build the $11 million facility, which was completed in 2014. In the 11 years between then and now, construction costs have only increased and Dr. Seppie said a pool “comes with a massive price tag.” Overall, he said the district is looking at an additional $40 million for a new pool facility.

Dr. Seppie said there has been discussion revolving around if the district would be better off using its square footage for a field house that could be utilized as an indoor track facility. He said the cost for that would be around $10 million and could be used by a variety of groups such as track, soccer, and softball teams when outdoor weather wouldn’t allow for competition. Dr. Seppie argues the field house could also generate revenue for the community as it would be the only facility of its type in the western portion of the state, allowing the district to host indoor track meets and other events that can’t currently take place locally. He was quick to point out the district isn’t considering killing a potential pool.

“It doesn’t mean that we can’t have both,” Dr. Seppie said. “However, funding is going to become the issue and that is something that we are currently looking at that possibly has other options for it.”

As of right now, Dr. Seppie said the high school is forced to host swimming events in Green River because the state requires an eight-lane pool and RHSH’s pool only has six lanes. He said the pool at Western Wyoming Community College would be difficult because the college doesn’t have stands.

Seppie said the board and district wants everything, but said the board isn’t sure if it can provide everything. That said, Dr. Seppie said the board is working to find ways to fund all of the new high school’s facilities. 

“I think that we have a chance of getting most of what we want,” he said.

Board Chairman Cole Wright said the district is trying to build partnerships within the community to provide facilities the district might not be able to provide. He also said the district has to also consider the student usage of those facilities, saying there is a cost-benefit analysis for a $40 million pool facility that serves 100 students and a $10 million field house that could “hundreds of students.”

“We’re hopeful through various fundings that we can figure it all out,” Wright said.