The Culver Community Schools Corporation may be keeping its school administration building for the foreseeable future. Treasurer Casey Howard told the school board Monday that the corporation would save about $17,900 by moving its administrative offices out of their current stand-alone building and into the Middle/High School.
However, only $8,500 of those savings would benefit the corporation’s General Fund, which is struggling the most. She adds that even if the stand-alone building closes, many of the current administrative costs – such as legal fees, office supplies, and advertising – would remain. “So the items that I did include in here are the insurance of the building and the land, any yard maintenance or ground, lights, etc., electric, gas, garbage, water,” she said. “Last year we replaced a TV, which we could do anywhere, but the outdoor camera – we wouldn’t have to do that again, probably. Arrow Services, NIPSCO, so it’s basically more of just your fixed items. Everything else, we’re going to pay no matter our location.”
That means the savings may not be enough to make it worth moving the equipment currently in the building to a new location. Technology Director Daniel Medesi says that most of the servers and other technology used by the entire corporation on a daily basis are located there, “After moving our Internet line, getting a new battery for the battery backup for if things go down, and putting the cooling in and the proper rack mounts, it comes out to about $20,686. None of this includes the materials to revamp the room where we want to place the servers. There would be some costs with that, but I don’t think it would be too, too much.”
He also estimates it would cost $3,000 to $4,000 to set up the technology for a new board room. Additionally, most of the corporation’s digital services would have to be shut down for at least two to four days while the move is taking place. “Everything seems to use the Internet, our servers: payroll, rollover of our students from one year to the next, everything,” Medesi said. “Everything uses our systems.”
Board member Bill Sonnemaker doesn’t think the move justifies the cost, “So with saving the $8,000 in the General Fund, it would take us three years, basically, to recoup if we made this move, in round figures. I don’t think it’s worth it at that point, myself, at all. I’d like to see some of those numbers, and you’d be surprised what you have to spend when you shut a facility down.”
School board members plan to review the detailed cost breakdowns involved with such a move, before deciding whether to proceed.
