New Vista High School’s building isn’t designed for high school students, doesn’t have needed flexible education spaces and has multiple structural issues.
Improvements to the Boulder school’s building at 700 20th St. were included in the $576.5 million capital construction bond issue approved by voters in 2014. But, given the condition of the building, those improvements were put on hold a few years ago so Boulder Valley leaders could explore rebuilding it.
The almost $40 million cost for a new high school, however, proved too high, and no viable solutions were found.
Now, with the district wrapping up the bond program, the school board is set to hear an update on New Vista’s building at Tuesday’s worksesion. The 5 p.m. meeting, which starts with a closed door executive session, will be streamed live at bvsd.org/bv22 or on Comcast channel 22.
“The board will be considering the best path forward, knowing that the bond funds — which have been set aside, including inflation — cannot fully meet the entirety of the needs of the school,” Boulder Valley spokesman Randy Barber said.
At Tuesday’s worksession, district leaders will recommend creating a working group — with student, parent, community and New Vista staff member representation — to discuss next steps. The group would meet in December and January and provide a report to the school board in February.
One option is to move forward with the work outlined in the bond issue as planned. Another is to make only the most critical repairs and include a new school building in a future bond issue, which would be dependent on voter approval.
The work outlined in the bond issue is mainly infrastructure improvements, including a new roof, new HVAC system, door replacements, exterior masonry and concrete repairs, interior finish improvements, and an auditorium remodel. The bond issue budget is about $13.3 million.
New Vista’s 77,966-square-foot building, formerly Baseline Middle School, was built in the 1950s and occupied by New Vista in 2004. It has had nine additions and sits on about 13 acres across from the University of Colorado Boulder.
A recent evaluation of the building found significant structural issues, plus water leaking into the auditorium. There are also accessibility issues and extreme temperature ranges, from hot to cold, in classrooms.
Rigid spaces don’t support the school’s educational needs, including maker activities and breakout spaces, according to the evaluation. There’s also a lack of performance and demonstration spaces, with a “severely inadequate” auditorium, and no formal outdoor learning spaces.
The evaluation predicted the school’s maintenance costs would exceed the cost of replacing the building in about 20 years, assuming building systems are updated and structural deficiencies are addressed now.
The plan developed a few years ago to replace New Vista’s building centered on selling the University Hill Elementary School building to CU Boulder. The district proposed using the proceeds to build a new high school building for New Vista plus a new K-8 building for University Hill, both on the New Vista campus.
But a feasibility study found the proceeds from selling University Hill wouldn’t come close to covering the cost of two new buildings, and the plan was scuttled.
New Vista, a 300-student, non traditional high school, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019.
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