by Norma McNiven
The Shepherd Community Education Committee (SCEC) held a public meeting on March 20, 2019, in the multipurpose room of the Shepherd High School. Attended by 85 people present and 35 people online, the SCEC presented information about the upcoming school bond issue. Conducted by Becky Anderson of the SCEC, she began by saying that the Shepherd community consists of many “good neighbors” and wants them to still be good neighbors regardless of the outcome of the bond issue. She told the group about state tax forms “Property Tax Assistance Program” that they had and would give to anyone who was interested for persons on a low or fixed income.
Anderson turned the time over to Jeff Kanning of Collaborative Design Architects who started from the beginning of this process with the key items that the school district and community wanted in upgraded facilities: a single location under one roof, security for the school, food services and cafeteria, better location for the administrative offices, more parking, better pick-up and drop-off areas, and improved landscaping. He pointed out that the current facilities were built for 780 students and are currently serving 814, a 105% capacity. The elementary population is over their capacity and the middle school and high school are at capacity now.
Kanning told the group the proposed building plans include 50,000 square feet of new space and 22,000 square feet of remodeled space. The bond includes money to fix some existing problems, remove asbestos-containing materials (ACMs), install fire sprinklers up to code, a weight and cardio room, a 350-seat student lunch room, a new library and a Mustang Room. The condemned kindergarten building and annex building would be destroyed. He said the weight and cardio room was needed because the proposed plans displaced the current wrestling room and the weight room. The 3800 square feet now occupied by the wrestling room and the weight room was improved to 4000 square feet in the new cardio and weight room plans with a door for community access to the weight room.
The construction plans themselves were kept to a simple rectangular shape, and he noted that it is more cost effective to go up another story than to construct on additional land adding more floor space. This is particularly true on the Shepherd school’s land because of the high water table. The elevator to the second floor to be used only by those with keys costs $80,000. The lunch room has enough square feet to be used as a full-sized practice basketball court or to have all of the elementary students in at one time for other activities such as concerts and assemblies. The amount of glass was reduced and the ceiling lowered in the proposed library from earlier plans to be more energy efficient.
New science curriculum cannot be implemented because of substandard facilities. Currently the only science experiments that can be conducted are ones that use a microwave or “kitchen science.” The plans proposed by Collaborative Design Architects remodel the two current middle school science rooms into one. The elementary has seven new classrooms, and four new classrooms for the high school plus two science lab rooms.
The Mustang room could be used as a community room, a hospitality room, for testing, drivers’ education, voting, and hunter’s safety classes to name a few. It could be the “hub of the community.” The library and media room could be of dual use for both the students and the public. The plans also include 45 more striped parking spaces.
Kanning noted that 33% of the district’s students are on free and reduced lunch indicating many students come from homes with limited incomes. Kanning told the group the amount of this bond was one and a half million dollars more than the bond defeated three years ago to correct the same problems because of the increase in construction costs. He also said that he wasn’t given anything about sports by the district when his company was hired to address the school infrastructure issues. He said they tried to optimize the use of the building.
The majority of those attending this particular public meeting were of the older demographic who really have no need of a school at this point in their lives. The primary issue is to convince this group that someone paid for their education, and they have an obligation to help pay for the education of the children in the Shepherd community now. The SCEC needs to sell this older group on the value of upgraded schools.
One major complaint aired several times was that they didn’t know anything about this bond issue. Now that the dollar amount has been set, and the bond election is coming up, they feel like they had no input into the solution of the problems. Anderson pointed out that they had notified people through letters to parents, on the school signs, in the Yellowstone County News, on Facebook and Twitter—every way they could, and then they sent a card to every taxpayer which cost about $2000 basically out of the pockets of members of the SCEC. Many of those receiving the cards were hearing of this bond issue for the first time.
Superintendent Scott Carter told the group that he had received that day a check for $5,000 from the Shepherd Booster Club to add to the $130,000 in the bond fund to retire the 2002 bonds.
In the public comment/question-answer portion of the meeting, Gloria Ervin, who has lived 48 years in the school district and served on the school board for 14 years, said she was on the board when they passed the bond issue to build the new gymnasium 30 years ago. She thought the amount of this bond was asking for “pie in the sky.” She thought the bond should not ask for “everything you need at once.”
When Kanning was asked how they came up with the figures, he said they hired Quest Service, an estimator to independently come up with the best estimate for the amount. On school bond issues, you only get the amount of money on the bond. There are no provisions for cost overrides. No bids have been put out. The bond issue is set at $17.9 million.
One younger male adult in the group had two main concerns: energy efficiency and construction oversight. He said he is friends of construction workers who built the two new middle schools in Billings and that according to them the schools are not energy efficient at all. Kanning replied to this concern that every builder has to meet or exceed existing energy codes.
The second concern was oversight. Who is going to oversee this project so that Shepherd does not end up with the problems that the Huntley Project District has had with the shoddy construction of parts of its new high school? They had to sue the roofer for the leaking, substandard roof, and there are numerous other problems including the gym floor. Huntley Project opted not to hire an oversight professional but had the oversight done in-house by someone not educated in construction. Kanning said that he from Collaborative Design would be the person overseeing the project.
Carter was asked what Plan B is if this bond does not pass. He said there is no Plan B. It would be back to the drawing board. He told the group that the district has slightly lowered the permissive levies for taxpayers this year. (Permissive levies are taxes you have to pay that you have no say in.) If the bond does not pass, permissive levies will have to be increased to pay for upkeep and maintenance.
One participant pointed out that without the school the Shepherd community consists of a bar and a post office. Rural areas whose schools are closed lose the sense of community.
Joy Welch, who has worked as a paraprofessional in the district for 21 years, gave a passionate plea to the taxpayers to support this bond. She told of having to wear coats, hats, and gloves to work with kindergarteners in the hallways where the doors keep opening and closing. Imagine how often a kindergartener with his attention span is distracted. She said she doesn’t make much working for the school and her husband is on social security, but she is a property owner. She said she would cry when her taxes went up, but she would “Find a way to pay my taxes for the children. They are not getting what they deserve. They deserve better.”
Angie Branson addressing the group said she didn’t understand why people were so upset about having good enough facilities to host tournaments. Concessions alone at such tournaments bring in a lot of money to the district. Hosting tournaments is a source of income for schools who have the requisite facilities.
Toward the end of the two-hour meeting, Anderson told the group they (SCEC) were starting a door-to-door campaign next week. They had sign up sheets for people who were willing to help with it.
One gentleman towards the end of the meeting summed it up this way: The school needs new construction and you need my vote to pass this bond issue. I don’t need a school. “Sell me on it.”
