School board to reconsider bond

The Sisters School Board has decided to review in greater detail construction and operational costs for a new middle school before deciding on what kind of bond measure to put before the voters, probably next May.

In their December 11 meeting the board agreed to revisit the middle school option as part of a post mortem assessment of the $5.5 million bond request narrowly rejected by voters in November. That bond was to finance new construction at the elementary school, remodeling of the old intermediate school and improvement and maintenance projects at those sites.

The bond was part of a 10-year plan drawn up by the school district's Long Range Planning Committee and passed by the school board in June. That plan also called for year-round education for elementary and middle school students.

Board Chairman Bill Reed said "we decided it was prudent to revisit the issue to be able to say emphatically that, for a middle school, you can build it but you can't operate it."

According to Reed, that decision came after two board workshops in which the board solicited input from school staff.

The board's direction drew fire from Long Range Planning Committee member Eric Dolson, who argued that the committee had already demonstrated that a middle school was not financially viable and that the board had already agreed with those findings.

Board member Connie Morris argued that the board should continue to support the Long Range Planning Committee's recommendations as they had agreed to do in June.

"I think to go back now and revisit (the middle school issue) without having a crisis or a change occur, we're wasting our time and making a mistake," Morris said.

Colin Adams, also a member of the Long Range Planning Committee, expressed dismay that the board appeared to be retreating from the committee's 10-year plan after all the study that had gone into it. Like Morris, he said he did not see that the issues facing the district had changed.

"The only thing that's going to change is the cost of the solution, because that will continue to go up," Adams said.

"How many Long Range Planning Committees have been making recommendations that you've been ignoring?"

But Board Vice Chairman Charles Warren stated that "the committee did not document alternative or creative options for a middle school," and he would like to explore those before rejecting the possibility.

Warren said the board should look at a "phased project," building a core facility that could be added to as populations grow.

The exercise may prove to be academic. Reed and Warren both stated that they were almost certain that restudying the middle school option would produce the same answers that the planning committee drew from it's study.

Board member Harold Gott said that he saw the issue as "all part of an overall review ... (an) effort to be real, real sure that we've asked all the right questions before we go back and ask the voters to reconsider what they've already told us."

The board agreed to determine what kind of measure -- if any-- will be presented to voters at their February meeting.