From Frank Rast

Anchorage, AK

To the Editor:

Joe Donny was a friend of mine and our family. His mother rented an apartment from the Rast Apartments for over 30 years. As a 1973 Alumni I have a vested interest in education outcomes for Monroe. 

Monroe needs a new High School building and I agree that the new site on the Donny farm is a good location. What I am concerned about is the size and budget for the new high school.

I was Contract Manager for surveys, geotechnical investigations and civil engineering on a wooded tract in South Anchorage for a new high school. The site had over 60 feet of topographic relief, subsurface glacial tills and some surface glaciation. Our requirements included maintaining a minimum 75-foot vegetated  buffer around the entire site. The South Anchorage High School serves 1200 students and was built on 50 acres, completed in 2007.

This leads me to believe the 70 acre site for a new high school in Monroe is much larger than needed. Reducing the site to 60 acres will save over $350,000 in acquisition costs.

We performed Value Engineering on the new SAHS after 95% design that reduced the original Opinion on Cost from $73 Million to $67 Million. It is a beautiful school and leads me to believe the MHS Budget has plenty of room for reducing costs.

I would also like to see some existing high school artifacts brought into the facility. Maybe the Arch could be incorporated into the design as well as the hardwood basketball floor the 1965 State Champions played on.