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Oyster River deliberators keep $9.83M elementary bond after secret-ballot amendment fails
Summary
At the district deliberative session, voters rejected a citizen amendment by secret ballot to cut Article 3’s $9,827,000 elementary-school bond; the board’s original bond will go to the March 10 ballot as printed. The bond funds renovations and additions at both elementary schools to add classrooms and improve student services.
Denise Day presented Warrant Article 3, asking voters to authorize $9,827,000 in bonds to expand and renovate both district elementary schools, including an expanded cafeteria at Mastway, lowered therapy spaces, reworked libraries and commons for more integrated instruction, and four general-education classrooms at Mohar[am]/Moharam to replace previously removed modular classrooms.
Supporters said the project addresses current space inadequacies that cannot be solved by renovation alone, citing lost modular capacity and the shift to full-day kindergarten. Board presenters described their enrollment model (kindergarten cohort tracking and grade-progression ratios), noted LRPC 2022 data that was re-run internally in spring 2024, and warned that delaying the project will increase costs and lengthen timelines.
During public discussion Thomas Dailyaly and other voters pressed the district to disclose data sources, projection methods, and how the board had accounted for trends and proposed state-level open-enrollment changes. Board members explained their two-stage forecasting approach: short-term kindergarten estimation (with high variability) plus grade-progression ratios calculated from recent cohorts, and acknowledged that projections include uncertainty.
A citizen, Kenneth “Ken” Stuff, moved to amend Article 3 to reduce the appropriation to $3,900,000 and proportionally reduce initial debt service; the motion was seconded and led to extended debate about what elements of the project would survive such a cut and whether the guaranteed maximum price and design work already paid for would require rework. Petitioners successfully demanded a secret ballot on the amendment; the result was 42 in favor, 237 opposed, and two blanks, so the amendment failed and the article remains as originally printed to be decided by ballot in March.
The moderator subsequently called the question; a two-thirds vote to close debate carried and Article 3 was restricted from reconsideration for the night. The district will present the bond on the March 10 ballot as printed in the warrant.
What’s next: Article 3 will appear on the March 10 ballot with the original $9,827,000 authorization, along with the school board’s recommended initial debt-service figure.
