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Bond issue decision looms
Published 11/3/2008 in News : Education
By EMILY BEHLMANN
ebehlmann@gctelegram.com
With less than 24 hours until polls open on Election Day and USD 457 voters cast their ballots on a $97.5 million bond issue more than a year in the making, residents are noting some extremes they see in the school district's facilities situation.
Garden City High School, with a 1,900 enrollment in a building designed for 1,500, is too crowded, some say.
The bond proposal, which would cost a $100,000 home owner about $110 a year for 25 years, is too expensive, others say.
Garden City is growing too quickly to do nothing, say some.
The district's plan is too much -- USD 457 should work with the buildings it has instead of building a brand new high school, others say.
The proposed $92.5 million new high school is a component of a long-range facility plan laid out by the USD 457 Board of Education in the spring, based partly on recommendations of a community committee that studied 10 options for resolving concerns at GCHS.
District leaders said the school is overcrowded so much that it has 11 mobile classrooms sitting outside the building, and that 14 teachers have to push materials from room to room on carts instead of teaching in their own classrooms. The school also has outdated science labs and other facilities short of its needs, they say.
If the bond issue passes Tuesday, a 2,000-student high school -- with capability of expanding to house 2,500 students -- would be built north of Mary Street and east of Campus Drive, inside the U.S. Highway 83/50/400 bypass.
The main GCHS building would be converted to a middle school, Abe Hubert Middle School would be converted to an elementary school and Garfield Elementary School would be expanded into an early childhood center. The plan also calls for New Outlook Academy alternative high school, as well as possibly the district's Therapeutic Education Program, to move into J.D. Adams Hall, a 37-classroom building that sits on the GCHS campus.
Educators' endorsement
Teachers and the community as a whole both stand to gain from successful passage of the proposal, said David Duran, a GCHS social studies teacher and president of the Garden City Educators' Association union.
The association announced recently that it endorses the bond issue -- a decision based on a rough survey of members. He said representatives of each USD 457 school discussed it with union members there and reported back on whether a majority of that school's staff wanted to endorse the issue.
Of USD 457's 16 schools, 14 said "yes," one said it was neutral and one didn't return results on time, Duran said. He wouldn't say how individual schools voted.
At his own school of GCHS, however, Duran noted several positive comments about the plan.
"At the high school, there's a feeling there's a need for better labs," he said, referring to science labs.
The plan also would ease congestion and better serve students with its plan for small learning communities, he said. Students would select a community based on a field of interest, and through teacher collaboration, all the students' classes would be geared toward that interest.
Duran said the plan, intended to provide each GCHS teacher with his or her own up-to-date classroom, could go a long way in recruiting and retaining teachers, too.
"This day and age, teachers can shop around," he said.
On the inside
Also speaking from experience inside GCHS is first-time voter Isaac Unruh, a GCHS senior who said he plans to cast a "yes" ballot.
"There are too many students here," Unruh said.
Friend Mat Thykkuttatihil, who graduated from GCHS several years ago, said he thinks a crowded school makes for "a bad educational experience." Students don't want to be at school, so they're more likely to skip class or drop out, he said.
And in the eyes of Kim Kong, an alumna now taking online college classes, the problem is only going to get worse. She said she watches new businesses popping up in Garden City, like the recently opened Sam's Club and the IHOP and A W restaurants currently under construction, and she thinks Garden City is growing.
As for the expense, Unruh said it's high, but that "the longer we wait, the more it's gonna cost."
Cost concerns
To others, however, the school district is asking for too much money.
Retired resident Tom Howard said there are facility problems that need to be addressed -- things he's concerned about for the sake of his grandchildren attending USD 457 -- but this is not the way to go.
"I'm opposed to the idea of starting all over with a high school," he said. "They should utilize what they have and expand on it."
That could mean adding onto GCHS, possibly by expanding into the existing parking lot, and it could mean expanding current middle and elementary schools to solve space concerns the district has raised there.
District officials say that in addition to addressing high school problems, the facility plan would eliminate the 14 trailer classrooms at USD 457's two middle schools, and would free up 26 elementary classrooms, allowing the district to provide rooms for teachers of subjects like art and writing, or to lower class size with the hiring of more teachers.
Howard said he thinks expanding existing facilities would make the proposal much cheaper, and much easier to swallow for him and other retired citizens on fixed incomes he knows from the Senior Center of Finney County.
As for him, he said he's driving a City Link bus part-time "to help out a little," and that he's "trying not to dig too deep in my own retirement, because after that, it's gone."
Worthy investment
Despite the expense, some residents say covering the 9.56-mill bond issue -- which would take the district's overall mill levy to 45.7 mills -- is worth it. A mill costs $1 for each $1,000 in a property's assessed valuation.
Mayra Varela, a homemaker, said she especially likes the idea of the proposed centralized early childhood center at the site of the current Garfield Elementary School.
According to the school district, the center would serve 600 students a day, focusing on those needing special education services, those considered "at-risk" because of low income or some other factors, and those who qualify for the Head Start program (building space would be leased to Head Start). Proponents say the center would allow for teacher collaboration and equipment sharing, while opening up elementary classrooms now used for the early childhood programs scattered around the district.
Varela said that overall, she thinks the district's plan would give USD 457 students greater opportunities for learning, and that with taxes increasing anyway, this is a good way to use citizens' money.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Check back Tuesday night at www.gctelegram.com for election results.
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