Some 850 Shepherd students and teachers gather in the high school gym to pose for a picture and to thank the Shepherd community for their support of the mill levy bond that passed the day before. Here, students make hand gestures in the form of a heart sign, while others celebrate with their hands high up in the air while encompassing the school mascot logo in the middle of the gym. A short video of the students shouting “Thank you Shepherd, We are Shepherd” will be posted on the Yellowstone County News website as well as the Shepherd Community website www.shepherdmontana.com. Where’s your kid, grandkid or friend? (Jonathan McNiven Photo)
The $11.9 million bond to see the Shepherd School reinvigorated officially passed on the night of the 10th, promising the much-needed funding to build on to the current campus and repair existing structures. After the failure of the previous $17 million bond measure last May, a hailstorm that caused roughly two-million dollars’ worth of damage to the school last month, and the untimely removal of the man spearheading the charge for this bond, Superintendent Scott Carter, for alcohol violations, this comes as a massive relief for a hurting Shepherd School that is struggling to keep kids from having to hold class in hallways.
Because of the way the school district is split up, the bonds had to be separated into a $7.9 million bond for the elementary school and a $3.9 million bond for the high school. Although they were divided, both bonds needed to pass in order for either of them to succeed. Luckily, the high school bond managed to succeed with 956 votes in favor and 805 voting against, a nine-point difference, and the elementary bond passed with 724 votes for and 626 against, a seven-point difference.
It was a long battle to get these bond measures passed. Back in May, the $17 million bond the school was trying for failed 759 to 725. Most Shepherd residents pointed to the extravagant cost and the property tax increase that would accompany it as their reasoning. After that failure it was back to the drawing board for the School Board and Collaborative Design Architects. By removing things like a new district administration office and a meeting room, reducing the size of the planned new lunch room, library, weight and cardio room, and vocational-agriculture building, and switching to cheaper exterior materials they managed to cut the total cost of the bond by around one third of the original asking price.
This new plan is scheduled to begin construction in March 2020, with interim Superintendent Drea O’Donnell saying the first step will be the construction of a building between the high school and the proposed vo-ag building to serve as a library before most likely the demolition of the century-old mold riddled kindergarten building and the 50s-era former 6th-grade building currently being used as the library building. From there the planned expansion includes a total of six new elementary classrooms to get students out of the halls, a new kitchen and lunchroom with enough capacity to keep students from having lunch in their classrooms, a second floor over the existing high school which will include a new library and a couple of classrooms, a remodeling of the two existing science rooms to bring them up to date, a full remodel of the high school multi-purpose room into multiple classrooms, and a new lunch/multi-purpose room. O’Donnell says that they will be meeting with architects and begin planning immediately. She says the school as a whole is “very thankful that our community, board? really stepped up and supported our students.”
