School board to officially adopt bond proposal Jan. 16

The Wayland Board of Education will have a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16, at the administrative offices to adopt a resolution on the proposal for a $54 million bond issue May 2.

Superintendent Norm Taylor said the school district’s bond pre-qualification application has been made to the Michigan School Bond Loan Fund. He said Wayland is the first district in this election to have its request split into two proposals.

One proposal will include:

• Closing and selling the 75-year-old Pine Street Elementary building to construct a new grades 4-5 elementary school on school-owned land near the Transportation building behind the high school and junior high.
• Adding a sixth grade wing to the junior high to create a middle school and open up music and athletic programs to sixth-graders.
• Improving parking lots and remedying drainage issues.

The second proposal, heavy on the athletics, involves:

• Building an entirely new swimming pool and renovating the old one into a new home for the band and orchestra program, thereby opening up new room for auto shop.
• Building a new and larger tennis court to replace the two failing courts at the high school and junior high.
• Installing artificial turf at the high school football stadium and getting rid of the crest in the middle of the field.

The school board has been working on the bond proposal for more than a year after having a facilities assessment done and numerous public meetings on the subject.

In other business, the board elected Gary Wood president, succeeding Tom Salingue, who was not re-elected. Wood served as president in 2014, was followed by Nancy Thelen in 2015 and Saligue last year. Pete Zondervan was chosen vice president, Janelle Hott secretary and Toni Ordway treasurer, all unanimously.

Board members also were told by Finance Director Pat Velie that the fund balance now stands at 10.36% of the general fund budget and everything appears to be in order to meet goals at the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year. The fund balance stood at about 7.5% only a few years ago.

PHOTOS: Special guests at the board meeting were members of a string quartet for the Wayland Orchestra, including Lynnsey Hooker, Anna Kidwell, Alexis Kirschbaum and Emily Staple. They performed a movement of a piece by Handel and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujuah.”

New board member Dan Cassini was unable to be physically present at the meeting, but appeared via Skype. He was in San Antonio for training.

Board members (center, from left) Cinnamon Mellema, Theresa Dobry and Gary Wood were sworn in for oath of office by administrative assistant Dawn Stein.