The Bismarck School Board won't seek a bond election to fund construction projects as it decides how to pay for its career and technical education center.

"Looking at the climate, it is not right," board member Marcia Olson said.

She thought a bond might have done well a year ago, but voter's rejection of the People Parks and Places initiative changed her mind, she said.

The board met in a retreat Tuesday to discuss facilities, including the career and technical center.

It is still considering whether to pay for it over a few fiscal years from the building fund and general fund, or to speed up the process by also using a school construction loan.

Regardless of how it pays for the building, the board would like to start construction in 2009, and the lease with Bismarck State College for the land requires it be completed in 2010.

While the district saves money for the career and technical center, estimated at $9 million, it also needs to consider other building needs.

The buckling gym floor at Myhre, combined with the open classroom concept that went out of style years ago, and the future widening of Bismarck Expressway and Twelfth Street led some board members to wonder if it should sink the money into the school or start plans to build elsewhere.

"We will either pour money into Myhre or build a new school," board member Dan Kuntz said. "I don't want to make that type of commitment without that kind of analysis."

But no one is closing - or proposing to close - any schools just yet. The board will decide at a future board meeting to send out proposals for a structural engineer to assess the school site.

Myhre and the Career and technical center are only the beginning of the district's facility needs. Transportation and Facility Director Darin Scherr outlined the more pressing needs in a facility master plan. This provided the basis for discussion at the retreat.

Another school with more immediate needs is Simle Middle School.

"Parts of that building are embarrassing," Kuntz said.

Olson said the science labs are "pathetic."

The science rooms and labs are one area that would be included in a renovation of the north wing of the original 1961 building. The estimated $3 million project also would replace windows, the aqua-colored wall panels, asbestos abatement of the floors and ceilings and upgrade the mechanical systems.

The board wants to talk to the community about the career and technical center, Myhre, all-day kindergarten and other topics at a community forum this fall. It will possibly be sometime in November, but a date has not been set.

The board also had a special meeting after the retreat. It decided to put off deciding on a contract with Kaplan Inc. for language arts high school curriculum guides until it finds out more of what it is providing the school district in terms of services.

The board also approved moving a portable classroom to Will-Moore Elementary School for the next school year and approving a cooperative agreement with Linton for a boy to run cross country.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)