The 'Eagle Times' Student Newspaper: News

Bond issue proposed

Major renovations, changes suggested

By Shelby Brokaw

February 05, 2007

The grade school, junior high, and high school personnel and students could be seeing some major changes over the next few years thanks to a proposed bond issue from the Silver Lake schools.

The 2007 bond issue aims to improve the school district at a projected amount of $7.9 million. When interest is factored into the 20-year bond, the amount would total $13,175,275. State aid would cover 41 percent of that cost, leaving the community with a sum of $7,773,412. For the average taxpayer, this means a net increase of 5.59 mills.

This may seem like a sizable amount, but in order to determine how substantial it is, compare it to the most recent bond issue. For the 1992 bond issue, it cost $82.86 per year on a $50,000 home. The proposed 2007 bond issue is projected to cost a Silver Lake homeowner $64.29 per year on a $100,000 home, though the total project cost would be $5,150,000 more.

This money would go toward improving and reorganizing all three schools in the school district, but perhaps the most significant change would involve the elementary school and the west building. Included in the bond issue is the proposal to transfer the kindergarten and preschool students to the grade school. Ten new classrooms would be added to the existing elementary school. Five of these would be used to house the west-building students, while the remaining five would be accessible to the first and second grades.

Dr. Steve Pegram, superintendent of U.S.D. 372, explained the importance of this transfer.

"We have our youngest students walk back and forth every day in all kinds of weather...plus, it would facilitate us moving from half-day kindergarten to full day kindergarten," he said.

Apart from permanently bringing the west-building students into the elementary school, the district plans to revamp the 1969 heating and cooling system and windows in the north wing of the elementary school, build a new gym onto the building, and change the office setup.

The new gymnasium would be a full, competitive-size gym without bleachers. It would be used for P.E. classes during school hours and be accessible to the community and for high school practices in the evening.

"The gym...would allow us to have P.E. classes all day. Right now, from 11:00 to about 1:15 or 1:30, it's closed up because of lunch. So, it would help our schedule quite a bit if that was there," said Ronda Dewey, principal at the elementary school.

Dewey also stressed the importance of the new office setup, which would be implemented at the high school and the grade school. She commented on the lax security of the current arrangement, noting that visitors currently have free rein as they walk in the door and may not even be seen walking in. With the new system, the secretaries will have the ability to direct individuals to where they need to go.

Aside from the new security measures, the bond issue also plans to expand the size of certain areas in the junior/ senior high school.

The first of these expansions would occur outside of the main building in the shop. With the funds from the new bond issue, the district would be able to nearly double the size of the shop building. Larry Winter, principal of the junior/ senior high school, believed that this extension would allow for better utilization of space.

For the main building, the bond issue would allow for the construction of a new multimedia center, converting the present space into four classrooms. The newly constructed multimedia center would be approximately 2,000 square feet larger than the current center. Winter personally believes that this additional library and computer lab space would allow for a better chance of learning at the school.

As for the four new classrooms, they too would help broaden student-learning opportunities.

Winter explained, "The other positive additions to our building would be adding about four classrooms that are specifically designed to address the needs of some special students...We're looking at, for example, hiring an additional math teacher this year. They're not going to have a room, so it would be worth getting the bond issue passed so we could have rooms available."

The voting for the bond issue will be held on April 3. A committee called Keep Improving District Schools, or KIDS, has been formed in order to notify the public about this issue. Co-chairs are Deidre Michael, kindergarten teacher, and Kay Saia, community member.

The KIDS committee is broken up into four individual subcommittees. The voter registration committee members inform the public about the issue; the speakers' bureau members talk to certain town organizations; the ways and means committee members are in charge of raising money to advertise the bond issue; and the community relations committee members intermingle with the others, raising awareness of the bond issue.

The KIDS committee has met twice and consists of approximately 25 to 30 members. The organization will appear primarily at upcoming school events.

"The big key will be getting information out to the public to see if they understand, whether they agree that it is needed or not. They're the taxpayers and they're the ones that will have to make that decision," Winter said.

(For more information on the bond issue see the Superintendent's Monthly Message.)