Facility Master Plan
Background:
To help the district be strategic in its long-term facility decisions, District 51 hired Hord Coplan Macht (HCM) in the summer of 2023 to complete a Long-Range Facility Master Plan. This master plan will provide the D51 school community with a long-range road map for maintaining and developing the district’s facilities to meet future needs. To create this plan, facility condition assessments were completed for most of D51’s facilities. These facility assessments included both an evaluation of the educational adequacy and utilization of each school building.
A planning committee was formed in the fall of 2023, which met monthly to support the master planning process, engage the community, and inform how the district should prioritize future work at each facility. The planning committee established guiding principles for this plan, outlining facility strategies over the next 25 years. For the initial phase of work, the plan proposes a balanced approach to improving safety and security, addressing maintenance needs, and enhancing the learning environments in the face of growing individual and Special Education demands. This committee is expected to make recommendations to the D51 administration and school board in the fall of 2024.
Mesa County Valley School District 51 has been in a period of declining enrollment, forcing the district to make strategic and sometimes difficult facility decisions for the district’s immediate and long-term future. For instance, ahead of the 2022-23 school year, the district closed the former East Middle School. Ahead of the 2024-25 school year, the district is consolidating school facilities in Fruita, converting the former Fruita 8/9 school facility to a 6-8 middle school while closing the former Fruita Middle School building. The state demographer is projecting a few more years of declining enrollment before seeing an enrollment increase, with a potential of enrollment reaching pre-pandemic numbers within the next 10-12 years.
Priorities:
The planning committee developed the following priorities for the District 51 Facility Master Plan. Scopes of work in bold text are recommended for the first phase of capital improvements.
1. Safety and Security Improvements District Wide
2. Priority Deferred Maintenance and Life-Safety Improvements District Wide
3. Capital Improvements to Central High School
4. Capital Improvements to Fruita Monument High School
5. Educational Enhancements to support SPED at the Elementary Grade Level
6. Technology and Furniture Upgrades District Wide
7. Capital Improvements at the Middle School Level
8. Educational Enhancements to support Pre-School at the Elementary Grade Level
9. Elementary School Replacements
10. Capital Improvements at Palisade High School
- Committee Members
- Facility Master Plan Executive Summary
- Facility Master Plan Full Report
- School Sites Inventory and Evaluations
- Micellaneous Inventory and Evaluations