DANVILLE - The District 118 School Board agreed Saturday that Douglas Elementary School will be closed and demolished at the end of this school year and a new preschool center will be built on that site.n

Cannon School, however, has been given a reprieve and will remain open for now.n

Those decisions were made when the school board finalized a five-year long-range facilities plan.n

The special meeting was attended by about 25 concerned staff and community members,n

The board balked at closing Cannon Elementary School, 1202 E. Main St., though the issue will be periodically revisited by the long-range facilities planning committee, which will now meet yearly to discuss how the plan is progressing.n

In addition, the board:n

n Unanimously agreed to fund repairs to Danville High School's 1972 north addition, Field House and roof above the auditorium for about $3.2 million, paid for with the sale of life/safety bonds, and to repair East Park Elementary and North Ridge and South View middle schools on an annual budget of $30,000 per school, paid for with district funds.n

n Unanimously agreed to replace the exterior doors on all its buildings for $395,000, paid for with the sale of life/safety bonds, and to formulate a schedule for interior and exterior painting for its buildings for $50,000 annually, paid for with district funds.n

n Tabled a proposal to find a new site for the Administrative Service Center, 516 N. Jackson St., which is not handicapped accessible, for further review.n

Eighty-eight-year-old Douglas Elementary, 500 Florida Ave., next year will move the majority of its 208 regular education students most likely to East Park Elementary, 930 Colfax Drive, said Superintendent Gary Tucker.n

Tucker said the school's remaining 38 special education students will be moved to other buildings.n

The vote to close Douglas, demolish it and build the new preschool center was not without controversy.n

The board's vote on the motion to follow such a plan for Douglas, proposed by board member David Groves, was 4-3 in its favor.n

Voting against the motion were board members Mary Alice Brian, Greg Hilleary and Leon Parker, and voting in favor of the motion was School Board President Bob Swires and board members Harold "Pete" Krainock, Groves and Debra Coleman.n

However Coleman, who had initially spoken against the motion, voted in favor of it and later tried to retract her vote, but was told by board president Swires that she couldn't.n

Board members Hilleary and Parker had expressed concern that the issue of the preschool center was new to the board and they were reluctant to vote on the issue until actual costs could be estimated.n

"I'm in favor of doing something with that site (at Douglas)," Parker said. "But on the motion to build a preschool facility, I'd like to see ... some exact numbers and some exact requirements."n

The demolition of Douglas - which was built in 1914 - will cost around $1 million, including asbestos removal, according to Tucker and D118 Buildings and Grounds Director George Schildt.n

The construction of the preschool center was estimated by Tucker and Schildt to cost between $4.5 million and $5 million.n

The demolition of Douglas and the construction of the center would be financed through the sale of life/safety bonds, which Tucker said could not be sold until June.n

Given the cost of demolishing Douglas, repairing the high school, replacing all exterior doors and building the preschool center, the district would have to sell nearly $10 million in life/safety bonds.n

According to its own figures, if the district agrees to sell $10 million of the bonds with payments extended for 20 years based on present interest rates, a homeowner with a house valued at $40,000 would pay an additional $25 to the district; a homeowner with a house valued at $80,000 would pay an additional $59.n

Assistant Superintendent Nanette Mellen stressed before the vote that if Douglas were to remain open, then additional staff cuts would have to be made to offset the cost of keeping the building operational.n

The district is facing a $3.4 million deficit in its education fund, which pays for staff, and about a $4.5 million deficit overall, with $21 million in reserves to cover the loss.n

The state also has plans to scale back aid to the district, with some estimates putting the loss at $1.7 million.n

The district will announce reductions in force at its board meeting on Wednesday in an attempt to handle the deficit.n

A previous motion to fund $1.6 million in repairs to Douglas failed on a 5-2 vote, with Coleman and Brian voting in its favor. The repairs were necessary to bring the school up to code and improve the "educational environment" at the school, Tucker said.n

"These items (of repair) occur often at an older building," Krainock said. "This $1.6 million is just the beginning of a serious situation ... We have to face reality."n

With regard to the preschool center, Mellen said that throughout the district there are 12 classrooms devoted to preschool students, including the Children Are Ready Early program and preschool special education students.n

The extra space left behind by moving preschoolers to one site would free up room in buildings throughout the district, Mellen said.n

Tucker said that with the closure of Douglas, he did not anticipate class size in the district moving up significantly.n

Currently, Tucker said that class sizes in grades 1-5 in the district are just over 21, under the state's average of 21.6.n

Overall, Tucker said that there are 313 preschool students in the district, who attend half-day classes.n

"I think it's a great compromise," Tucker said of the closing of Douglas and the building of the new preschool center. "It helps the district and it helps that neighborhood.n

"It will be a shot in the arm for the Douglas Park neighborhood."n

The closing of Douglas, Tucker admitted, will save "some significant" dollars for the district by way of reductions in heating, electricity, and fewer administrators.n

A few members of the public were not in favor of the plan to close Douglas.n

Danville resident Pete Holst threatened to file a court injunction against the district, claiming that it discouraged parental involvement at the its open hearings on the findings of the long-range facilities planning committee in January by not holding the meetings at the schools under consideration to be closed.n

Holst said that he wants a meeting to be held at Douglas and the district prove to parents what is wrong with the building.n

Carol Swank, a fifth-grade teacher at Douglas, said that she believes the district did not take adequate care of the school.n

"We wouldn't have been in this situation if buildings and grounds had been taken care of it," she said. n