There have been a lot of things said during this bond issue. I come to you as a tax payer, a parent, and yes superintendent. I can tell you that the Board of Education has committed a lot of time and effort to do its homework. We have the best architect and building company on board.
As most of you know, the bond issue was very narrowly defeated last spring. So where are we at today? The first bond issue asking price was 17.9 million. The new bond asking price is for 11.9 million that is a decrease of over a third. The vote will be in early September. This bond will cover a new cafeteria so we do not have to haul food outside to feed students, and the elementary classes do not need to eat in their classrooms. We have amazing cooks, and students should not have to eat in the classroom.
We will build new classrooms to account for the ones lost when we closed the 1911 kindergarten building. This bond will provide a new library. This replaces the one currently housed in an old restaurant. This will still leave us a little room for growth. All kindergartners will have a classroom and they did this last year. We are only teaching title classes in the hall which are small groups working on reading and writing improvement.
The bond also covers new science classrooms in the high school and middle school. A new family and consumer science room. Our current rooms are inadequate and many years out of date.
There are no new additional athletic facilities being built. With this new bond we are relocating the weight and cardio room for Physical education purposes. With the current configuration, we can’t use them at the same time because of their physical distance there is no way for one teacher to supervise both of them. In this day and age physical education is important.
Some people have expressed concerned about an upgrade to the fire suppression system. We can sprinkle the entire facilities for about $700,000. Fire sprinklers save insurance companies. Fire alarms save students. We do fire alarm drills every month. We have a comprehensive plan to evacuate all of our student in a safe an efficient manner. This new plan still ensures safe access points to every building. We must have in this plan that as a main point. Schools deal with a lot. Thirty years ago this was not a design feature. Today it is needed to keep every student safe.
The real question is what do you want for your community? Growth will come. We live in a special place. The cost to tax payers for this new bond, has gone down by about 35%. This plan should take care of the schools and our community for the next 20 years.
I love this community, and every child deserves a great school. Each generation has a responsibility to provide that.
Someone did it for us.
Scott M. Carter
