I promised to have a Blog Post about tomorrow's Neosho School Bond election. This Blog addresses questions posed, to me,which I have heard raised by Patrons of the School District. This Blog Post is directed at those who have yet to form an opinion on the issue or those who may be leaning to the "NO" vote, but are open to consideration. If you have questions, please comment, on this post, in the comment box below OR message me on Facebook OR e-mail me at : steve105@swbell.net. I will do my very best to respond to each question, before polls open tomorrow.
For more detailed information, please visit the "Vote Yes for Kids" Facebook Page.
QUESTION: Has there been a traffic study on the location where the new school is proposed to be built?
ANSWER: Yes, our architects conducted a traffic study. They used recent traffic counts obtained on roads leading into our proposed site. They estimated the traffic increase would be around 400 to 450 cars, per day. They arrived at this by estimating to the high side, figuring the area would see the addition of eighth grade traffic, only, as seventh grade is already in the area. If there are 350 to 400 kids in 8th grade, they estimated nearly half would be driven by parents. Then there was a calculation involving how many of these parents were already driving through the area, because they had children in other grades at Carver or the Middle School. The results were the existing roads can handle the increase in traffic and that the proposed location should actually reduce congestion, because they showed the opinion that a significant number of vehicles would start using Kodiak Rd. to Old Seneca Rd., to enter and exit the area. This would allow traffic relief to Norway Road and Kodiak Road to the south of Norway Rd., as people would travel away from areas they currently believe to be more congested. I understand that line of thinking, just not sure how people will act in reality. We discussed and reviewed this thoroughly, as a School Board. In addition, the TDD (Neosho Transportation Development District) projects will be bid in October 2014. That will complete Hale McGinty Dr. to an outlet at Highway 60, further pulling traffic from the side streets, around the Middle School. There also will be the addition of turn lanes at Waldo Hatler (Norway) and Hale McGinty. These projects will be completed in 2015, according to the TDD and prior to the opening of the Junior High.
QUESTION: Is a storm shelter part of the new Junior High School plans?
ANSWER: Yes. There will be a shelter, built to current FEMA standards, incorporated into the structure. The exact portion of the building has yet to be determined, but according to the architects, it would most likely be the cafeteria or gymnasium portion.
QUESTION: Did we recently pay off an old school bond?
ANSWER: No. We will not pay off the Carver Bonds (used to build Carver Elementary and make improvements to the High School), until 2026, but we refinanced them at a lower rate, late last year. Our projections are for this to free up 6 to 7.5 million dollars, within the next five to six years. If this pans out and we can pass the Junior high issue, we would like to go to the voters and ask for a no tax increase bond issue to build an addition to South School, which would allow us to not have overcrowding at the elementary levels, with new growth.
QUESTION: Why does the Neosho School District keep coming back to the voters, after we have already approved so many increases in taxes to build Benton Elementary and the Middle School?
ANSWER: We have not had an increase in taxes to pay off ANY bonds, in more than 40 years. With the exception of the 2006 Carver Bonds. The last tax increase to pay off bonds, was approved in the late 1960's to build South School. The Neosho School District has faced an overcrowding problem, for more than 25 years. The failure of voters to approve bond sales led past school boards to build Benton Elementary and The Neosho Middle School with funds borrowed on 'Lease Purchase Agreements", from financial institutions. The problem with this action is.... in order to repay lease purchase agreements a school district has to use money, from their operating accounts. This is the same account we use to supplement pay to our Teachers. This account is also used for the day to day operations of the school. Therefore, any money spent on lease purchase agreements come directly at the sacrifice of money needed for kids.
In addition, the Neosho School District has never had enough money available, in the operating account, to actually address our needs with lease purchase funds. This has led to the horrible parking issue, at the Neosho Middle School, and other substandard features, such as no plumbing or ability to expand a large portion of the middle school. I have heard many people complain about features of both Benton and the Middle School....most poor design features are a direct result of no community support to build a structure properly.
QUESTION: Can the School District use lease purchase money to build the Junior High, if this issue fails?
ANSWER: NO, we don't have the funds coming into our operating account to satisfy this need. We simply can not afford this needed structure, without the approval of bonds to be sold.
QUESTION: Has the District thoroughly researched the "need" for a Junior High and is the "right" plan, for Neosho?
ANSWER: YES!!!! I have personally been involved in several of the past bond campaigns and I personally feel this particular issue has been more thought out, than any others. This is an excellent plan, for Neosho's real needs.
If this issue passes, we will free up much needed space, in the High School, by taking 8th grade out. In addition, we free up room in the Middle School, by removing 7th grade. Both the High School and the Middle School are terribly overcrowded.
We have studied every aspect of this plan. We hired a demographic company to project future growth, so we would be able to build this structure to our needs 5 to 7 years down the road. You may think this sounds like a short period of time, and it is, but I can only honestly use "5 to 7 years", as that is the only amount of time valid to a study of population growth. We certainly expect this building to meet our needs 10 years out, but our population study is not valid at that distance of time.
We hired a Nationally recognized survey company to "poll" your wishes, as patrons, and you told us a Junior High was what we needed. We asked our professional School Administrators to study our overcrowding and they said we needed a Junior High, to adress our needs. We hired Sapp Design Associates of Springfield, Mo., as our Architects, they studied the issue and developed a Master Plan, for the District, their plan result? We were advised to build a Junior High!
Everyone of our experts told us we needed a Junior High and it was researched from every angle possible, with the money we had available.
