There won’t be an election t
his year on the Wayland Union school district’s plans to renovate and upgrade facilities.
The Board of Education, which was looking at the possibility of putting a bond issue on the November general election ballot, now is considering having the vote instead in May 2017.
The school board last year brought in the services of Tower Pinkster Architects to do a feasibility study on the district’s physical needs and set a timeline for when things could start happening. Tower Pinkster only recently has indicated that it was too much of a rush to have everything ready for the November election, so Wayland would have to take the next available date, in May 2017.
The board started having discussions on facilities last year after noting the terrible condition of the high school pool and costly repairs needed too often. Tower Pinkster also recommended something be done about Pine Street Elementary, the district’s oldest building, and the condition of buildings across the street on Pearl Street, which the architects said may be unsafe. The Pearl Street buildings include a gym and are used for shop and band programs, along with physical education.
Superintendent Norm Taylor also said the schools may not have a handle yeat on transportation needs, which now include 19 secondary and 17 elementary school buses.
The superintendent noted that though student population is down a little this year, there could be a rise because the graduating class of 2016 has only 185 members and incoming numbers of pre-schoolers and kindergarteners have been pegged at between 210 and 215.
Taylor explained, We had standing room only at Dorr and Baker (elementaries, where preschool and kindergarten roundups took place earlier this month.”
“We want to accommodate as many of the youngest children as much as we can,” the superintendent said. “We don’t want to turn away any children who may attend our schools for as many as 13 to 14 years.”
He also pointed to prospects soon of adding 116 slabs to the Hunter’s Glen mobile home park in Leighton Township.
Taylor continued, “And there are questions — Do we continue to keep that facility (Pine Street) and add to it? If we don’t, what do we do with the grades (fifth and sixth) there now?”
It is possible sixth-graders could be added to the middle school with additions or spread out fifth-graders among Dorr and Steeby elementaries, but Dorr reportedly is bursting at the seams this year.
“We don’t have a lot of spare space for classrooms,” Taylor asserted. Tower Pinkster recommended the school district plan to have a public forum on a potential bond issue perhaps as early as June and have another in September. That would give board members and school officials a couple of months to finalize what might be done.
Finance Director Bill Melching said he hopes the low financing rates of below 4% continue when the school board finally decides to put the question on the May 2017 ballot.
PHOTO: Tower Pinkster Architects insist there are problems that need to be addressed at Pine Street Elementary, the oldest school building in the district.