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Board discusses scaled-down elementary bond plan and community outreach strategy
Summary
After a failed prior bond vote, district leaders described a narrower elementary-school bond proposal, a target cost range and an outreach plan that includes community volunteers, informational mailings and meetings; architects and builders will present designs to the board before ballot wording is finalized in March.
District leaders updated trustees on a revised elementary-school bond proposal and an outreach plan aimed at improving voter support after a prior vote failed with 53% approval.
Administrators said the previous package included a CTE building that some community members opposed; the district has since sought grants and donations for CTE space and narrowed the bond to focus on a new elementary school. Officials said the building-cost estimate rose from $15 million in 2015 to $28 million in 2022. The district has engaged new architects and builders (LKB and ESI) to explore design options and to reduce costs; the board authorized $8 million from school modernization funds to support the project with the goal of keeping the total asking amount under $20 million, though designers have been given a working target of $25 million to include desired programming. If designers meet $25 million, the $8 million would reduce the net ask to roughly $17 million, administrators said.
Superintendent Dr. Gee outlined an outreach plan: Gazette articles, a dedicated website as a repository for official materials, in-person overview meetings with architects and builders (starting after formal board presentations), smaller "cottage" meetings for neighbor-to-neighbor discussions, voter-registration drives at athletic events and an identified community support group led by Steve Clough and Jason Boyd. The board was told the formal ballot wording must be approved in March; exact tax-impact figures and state-assistance calculations will follow that approval and will be included in outreach materials.
Trustees asked about potential ballot conflicts: a local ambulance/fire bond is expected to appear on the same ballot, which could affect voter perception. Administration said the district will present tax-impact scenarios showing the overlap of the current high-school debt payoff and how that overlap would affect tax rates over several years.
