SOUTH BEND — After more than six months of waiting, the South Bend Community School Corporation is moving forward with a $36 million plan to renovate facilities across the district.

Department of Local Government Finance Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave gave the green light to the projects on Thursday.

The plan includes building improvements at Washington and Clay High Schools, extensive renovations to Monroe Primary School, and a brand new Montessori Academy building to be built just to the north of the current Marquette building. That building will remain standing for a yet to be determined future use.

After making her decision Thursday, Musgrave said that a recent compromise between local leaders to keep the current Marquette building standing was "important in the final determination. The commitment by leadership to find an alternative use for the current Marquette building demonstrates a real win-win for the community."

That excitement was clear on the faces of Marquette students outside the school Thursday, who cheered when they heard they'd be moving into a new building.

"We wanted a new school," said one.

"Yeah, a new school," agreed another. "This one is kind of nasty."

Proponents of the project agreed.

"We're very pleased," said Eugene Staples, who helped organize the remonstance petition drive for a new Marquette. That petition drive showed overwhelming support from taxpayers for a new school, rather than renovations to the current building.

"I think this clearly speaks to the importance of our children," Staples continued. "They deserve a new school, and we're thrilled they're going to get one."

The faces of school corporation leaders showed that same excitement after news of the approval broke.

"There were many sleepless nights as we were getting closer and closer to that deadline," said Interim South Bend Superintendent James Kapsa. "Past July 1, the cost would have been prohibitive. And we would have to go back to square one and reconfigure. And frankly, because of the cost involved, I question whether we even could have afforded the projects."

The school corporation sent the project in for approval more than six months ago. But because of rising interest costs, construction costs, and Indiana's new property tax cap law that takes effect next week, they were worried the debt load on South Bend taxpayers would grow too large for the project to move forward.

That's why they partnered with the city to push for this compromise solution.

"This is what can happen when the community comes together," said South Bend School Board President Sheila Bergeron. "We've planned for this for years, and this is really the fruition of a great plan. And when these two buildings are completed, and Washington and Clay are addressed, all of our buildings will be in excellent condition."

The improvement will include a new fine arts department at Clay High School, building improvements to the back portion of Washington High School and parking lot and traffic control improvements. Extensive renovations are planned for Monroe Primary School, and a new $18 million Marquette Montessori Academy will be built next to the current building.

Administrators say it will be "tailor made" for the new magnet program.

"We'll be able to see facilities perfectly geared toward the design of the program," said South Bend Assistant Superintendent for Instruction and Curriculum Dr. Pat O'Connor. "I can't tell you how excited we are about implementing this for our students."

Even so, some say the final deal isn't exactly what they'd hoped for.

"My first thought [after hearing about the approval] was, I'm disappointed that the $2 million savings proposed in [another architectural firm's] plan wasn't enough to keep the current Marquette building operating as a school," said South Bend-St. Joseph County Historic Preservation Commission Director Catherine Hostetler. "But we did compromise, and everybody took something off the table. Anything to keep a building like this out of the landfill is wonderful."

"We on the part of the city pledge our partnership with the schools to look for an alternative use for the old building," added South Bend Mayor Steve Luecke.

But what it might be used for is still anyone's guess.

"We'll be talking with developers, but we certainly have seen other schools converted to apartment uses; Central High and others. But we'll look at uses that will be complementary to the new school and complementary to the neighborhood," Luecke added.

Hostetler says the HPC would like to see the building's original intended use maintained somehow.

"It would the most cost effective way, I think to use it as an
educational facility of some type, because that's the way it was built. That's the way it was designed and it's still a very structurally sound school," said Hostetler. "It would be best to use it as a school, or some kind of training facility for teachers. There's all kinds of different things you could use a dual campus like this for, very productively and creatively."

There are a few hurdles to clear before ground can be broken on any the projects. The school corporation will finalize leases and bonds on the projects on Monday, then meet with architects to finalize plans.

They still have to meet with the HPC to finalize details on the Monroe project. Monroe Primary is a designated historic landmark, and thus, any changes to the building must be approved by the HPC.

Kapsa hopes at least some of the work can kick off within the next few weeks. He hopes to complete work on the new Marquette building by 2010.