ROCK SPRINGS – It isn’t just a difficulty in regulating temperature or the case of the building being 53 years old and needing work.
The fact of the matter is needs have grown far beyond what Rock Springs High School is capable of handling, which include housing a projected student body of more than 2,000 in the future.
The building on James Drive was originally completed in 1971, with four major expansions over the course of its lifespan. The first expansion took place in 1975 with the completion of the swimming pool, followed by the auditorium in 1977, the career and technical wing in 1981 and the wrestling room and auxiliary gym in 1984.
Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Superintendent Kelly McGovern and Facilities Director Dan Selleroli made a case to residents about the need for a new high school Monday evening. The need for a new building isn’t a new one, with studies highlighting the school’s inadequacies dating back to 2007. That 2007 study noted the student population at the time, 1,094 students, had caused several issues with the layout of RSHS. The complexity of the building made it impossible to supervise the completely, and the design of the school and placement of the classrooms made it impossible for all of them to be close to major spaces, which include the cafeteria, gym, and media center.
The cafeteria itself has a capacity of 220 students, which necessitated an open campus as the cafeteria could not fully seat the students at RSHS during its lunch periods. A closed campus would be more secure for students, but the layout and large student population makes it impossible to accomplish. Additionally, the study noted a lack of parking at the high school that caused student parking to overflow into nearby streets.
The first of three Most Cost-Effective Remedy studies conducted at the high school took place in 2014 and found the building could not be renovated. Also, the building is landlocked between the nearby railroad and residential area, ruling out the possibility of building an addition onto the school. Selleroli called the current high school’s location the most restricted high school site in Wyoming because of these challenges.
The current high school is on 3.5 acres of land, an amount that is a fraction of the space needed for a high school according to the Wyoming School Facility Commission. WSFC guidelines suggest a new high school have at least 20 acres of usable area to build on, with an additional acre for each 100 students. A site selected on land the district acquired from the Bureau of Land Management near the Rock Springs High School Satellite Building on Stagecoach Drive would fill the needs specified by the WSFC. The site encompasses 67 acres and would easily contain facilities, a suitable parking lot and other needed amenities. The site is ready to build on, however, the roadblock the district has encountered is politics in the Wyoming Legislature and WSFC. Several attempts to secure funding from the WSFC have come up empty for the district, which have lead concerns about inflation driving the cost of the school up. As of right now, the cost for a new building could be between $160 million and $200 million. School districts can’t build their own school and are required to wait for WSFC funding and approval to initiate the project.
There are concerns that time is running out too. Board President Carol Jelaco said worker estimates for the upcoming trona, nuclear, and carbon capture projects planned in southwestern Wyoming have her convinced the district isn’t ready for the growth those projects will stimulate. Cohort estimates of upcoming classes in the district also suggest the student population to grow at RSHS in the coming years, eventually surpassing 2,000 students.
