On April 7 voters in the ROCORI School District will be asked to approve a 20 year bond proposal of no more than $29,990,000 to build a new ROCORI Middle School. Voters will have the opportunity to make a single yes or no vote on the referendum ballot. This is the first in a series of articles designed to help voters as they study the issues in support of making an informed decision to vote yes.
To begin with, our school system and its facilities are the focal point of our communities. The school system cradles our most precious commodity –our children-- on a daily basis, all year long, and irrevocably shapes their mental, physical and social development during the most formative stages of life. Our children’s future successes or failures hinge on the education and developmental experiences found within the schools. Together with the family and the church, our schools will produce the Rockville, Cold Spring and Richmond of tomorrow. Our kids need and deserve school houses that improve their education rather than distract them from getting one.
So what, exactly, is the building proposal?
The ROCORI School District building proposal is to build a new middle school facility. This will be accomplished by building a new middle school wing onto the current high school building. Grades 6-8 across the district will utilize the new middle school, allowing the district to fully implement a true Middle School Concept and improve education. Simultaneously, the proposal makes focused additions to the high school building, in order to accommodate the increased number of students using the site, and also renovates classroom and common spaces to ensure that the entire facility meets current building code, safety, and educational requirements. Further, the oldest portions of the current middle school facility will be torn down, and the district will utilize the remaining and newest portions as a district education facility. The proposal is to cost no more than $29.9 million, and if approved, could be in use for the 2010/11 school year.
What are the benefits?
The major benefits of the building proposal are that it will enhance our children’s education by solving critical facility needs, substantially improving educational facilities across the district in a single referendum, and achieve significant value by improving upon existing facilities. The proposal builds a new middle school building and solves our most critical facility need, allows full implementation of the Middle School Concept, modernizes the high school and adds decades to its life span, frees up a grade level of space in all three elementary schools to better accommodate current needs and educational flexibility, and utilizes the best parts of the current middle school at minimal cost while freeing the district of the burden of upgrading and maintaining the oldest facility in the district. The proposal will have a positive impact on every child and every building in the district, and take care of facility requirements for the foreseeable future.
OK, so what does it cost?
The proposal would raise the taxes on the average home ($175, 000 taxable value) by $10 a month or $120 per year from current levels. This investment will provide the district with $45 million worth of facilities (if undertaken separately) for under $30 million. Additionally, the proposal will save the district about $400,000 per year in maintenance and operating expenses.
The proposal makes full use of scarce resources and is a good investment. We build modest yet sturdy buildings. We put our money into our newest facilities, considerably extending their life span. We don’t throw good money at bad buildings by avoiding substantial investment in renovation and maintenance of old and deteriorating facilities. A single referendum addresses the District’s facility needs for the foreseeable future—about 10 years, and at the end of the day the cumulative value of our investment is significantly greater than our cost.
Our current facilities, and in particular the middle school, places limitations on the education our children receive. The building proposal on the April 7 ballot solves that problem, and allows the ROCORI communities to fulfill our responsibilities to provide adequate educational facilities for our children and to build facilities the way we want them built.
But do we have to do it now?
Yes. The Middle School facility issues and at other district facilities must get fixed because the health, safety, welfare, and education of our children matter. We can choose to fix them in the manner we desire while staying within our means, or we can choose to wait and allow others to make us fix them. The state of the national economy is not something we can control, and if history is any judge there will be long term improvement. This proposal will put people to work. The need is now and so is the opportunity to dramatically improve our children’s education and our school houses at a value price.
For more information and to voice your opinion please visit: www.NewROCORIMiddleSchool.com
The writers are concerned parents of school-age children and co-chairs of the Build a New Middle School Referendum Committee.
by Barry Venable and Pat Salstrand
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