I struggle with going to referendum on Option 1 because I think it’s shortsighted.”

Chad Verbeten, School Board Member

As to the proposed school improvements entailing referendum, the board will take up the matter again at its January meeting, following a Facilities Advisory Committee meeting to which the public is invited on Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m., in the high school library.

The results are in from the mailed surveys on possible construction at Stanley-Boyd. With three basic options to choose from in regards to school improvements, the three basic options were as follows:
Construct a three-station gym for 15.8 million (Option 1)
Construct a three-station gym (Option 1) along with relocating the District office and creating one central cafeteria for $23 million
Option 3 on the survey was to have Options 1 and 2 along with expanding the fitness center and weight room, for an estimated $24.2 million
Respondents could also choose “none” as their response, with Anthony Menard of CESA 10 sharing survey results with the board at its Dec. 18 regular board meeting.
“So first off, I’ll just go over the survey results, the data we got back from the survey,” he said.
Saying that the survey had a 20 percent response rate after being sent to 1,800 households, Menard went on to say that there had been 241 direct mail responses and 153 online replies.
Grouping data in a 95 percent confidence interval with five percent margin of error, some, Option 1 ($15.8 million) came away with the best chance of passing as proposed. Option 2 (for $23 million) was next, coming in with enough support to hypothetically make the simple majority needed for passage.
Option 3 ($24.2 million) came in as least likely to pass as proposed., with discussion on the results following Menard’s presentation.
“I struggle with going to referendum on Option 1 because I think it’s shortsighted,” board member Chad Verbeten shared of the option predicted as most likely to pass. As for Option 2, the question of whether to include the vote with the April election or hold off until November also played into discussion. With Menard saying those aged 65 and over expected to be the highest in turnout come voting time, the prospect of increased turnout due to a Presidential primary in April was considered. In the end some 60 percent of survey respondents liked one of the three options, while 40 percent chose “none” as their preference. At least one municipality in the district was said to have received the survey on the same day as tax bills, resulting in an overwhelming ‘no’ vote from those residents.
Board member Lanse Carlson raises his belief in the need for better messaging in future mailings, with the possible advantages of a central cafeteria or improvements to the present gymnasium for drama club purposes listed among the potential benefits. The district currently carts food between different areas of the school, a present reality that a central cafeteria space would address.
But while better messaging was brought up as potentially important for the future, the school board itself cannot advocate for a ‘yes’ vote on the matter, advocacy for or against being left to citizen’s groups. On that note and included in more general survey feedback, comments and/or interests expressed by the public on the survey included:
• The need to cultivate STEM opportunities in the district to attract industry.
• An applied science/physics lab
• New sound system in the elementary gym
• Air conditioning in the elementary school
• More storage for sporting equipment
• Update the elementary special education classroom
• Improvements to tech ed, music, and art
• Safer designated drop-off area
• Having an accessible stage that does not impede athletics
• Improvements at Boyd Early Learning Center
• All bathrooms need updating
• Secure entry is a must to keep students and staff safe
• More support/fundraising from the school/ booster youth athletics club is needed.
Moving next into a discussion of next steps to take, the date for an additional FAC (Facilities Advisory Committee)
With regard to STEM, Menard said that there was talk of low interest loans for teach ed, based on report in the Wheeler Report.
As to the proposed school improvements entailing referendum, the board will take up the matter again at its January meeting, following a Facilities Advisory Committee meeting to which the public is invited on Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m., in the high school library. The school board would then decide at its regular meeting which option to place before the voters in spring for a dollar amount, with bidding next fall to winter, if the referendum is approved.