Already the City of Wenona and the City of Minonk are preparing to get involved in this process. Rumors have been floating around for years about building a new school that would house grades 5 to 12. This would be a costly project that this district simply cannot afford. Fieldcrest already has a relatively new gymnasium and an athletic field and it would very costly to build new ones. We are not a rich district and are already paying high property taxes.
There does not appear to be any local support for building a new school. With the State of Illinois nearly bankrupt schools will have to learn to live within a budget just like everyone else. Taxpayers want accountability. Our schools need to emphasize cost containment and run the school like a business. The school spent $40,000 purchasing the former Presbyterian Church and today all it is used for is to store junk. Where did all this stuff come from and why was it bought in the first place? At Fieldcrest South some of the old classrooms are used for storage. Did we need to build a new addition just so there was more space to store stuff?
The Fieldcrest school district is not going to grow very much and the district does not need more classroom space. The only way schools in the future can survive economically is to gradually convert over to online schooling which will reduce the need for personnel, infrastructure and transportation. Studies indicate that online courses are more effective and provide a broader range of courses.
Instead of resorting to the typical American tear-it-down and rebuild mentality, the Fieldcrest Board of Education now has a chance to be really innovative. Fieldcrest can lead the way into the future by planning to convert to online schooling for the upper grades. Whether we like it or not, that is the future and new buildings do not figure into that equation. The Fieldcrest schools should be repaired, not torn down and rebuilt.