The Wayland Board of Edu
cation seems headed for a severely pared down bond request in the Nov. 7 general election.
After voters soundly rejected two bonds totaling $55 million May 2, by about a 65%-35% margin, the board seriously is considering whittling the proposals down to three:
• Keeping open Pine Street Elementary, a 76-year-old building, for now and spending $8.4 million on district-wide repairs and renovations, including a boiler, an elevator and fire suppression. School officials believe the stately old building, which used to be the high school, may hold up for the next six to 10 years.
“The $8.4 million is for all security and infrastructure upgrades across all schools in the district. Within that figure and included is about $1.85 million just for the three main Pine Street renovations,” said Superintendent Norm Taylor.
• Spending about $9.69 million on a new addition to the junior high to accommodate all sixth-graders and allow them to take part in band, choir and athletics. All fourth- and fifth-graders in the district then would attend Pine Street.
• Spending $2.34 million on replacing the tennis courts with a 12-court complex.
This is a huge contrast with the two bond proposals offered May 2, which also included a new elementary school for fourth- and fifth-graders, a new swimming pool and artificial turf for the football stadium. This proposal, if approved, will be for $20.5 million and will result in less than a half-mill increase in taxes, averaging about $35 per year for a household and property assessed at $150,000.
No final decisions have been made as yet. The board will have a meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, June 12, to put it to a vote of the seven members. There also will be a public forum on the proposed new bond issue to explain ideas and answer questions at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 1, in the Middle School Cafeteria with representatives present from Triangle, Tower Pinkster, and financial adviser from PFM to answer questions.
Board members acknowledged they didn’t consult enough with the EPIC-MRA survey of district voters, but it showed only the tennis courts had more than a 50% negative response. Superintendent Norm Taylor pointed out that the tennis courts are a “must-have” because they are total state of disrepair and unusable.
The two biggest items in the failed bond election were the new elementary school and the swimming pool. Retaining Pine Street and the middle school addition is expected to cover that, but the fate of a 42-year-old swimming pool is still unknown. The pool has been breaking down often and its is regarded as unsuitable for interscholastic competition.
In other business at Monday night’s meeting, the board:
• Recognized three staff members as Outstanding People in Education — Tricia Dale, counselor at the high school; volunteer Terry Ellis of Sunshine Video, and Chris Rupkee at Baker Elementary.
• Learned the school district has received a $5,000 grant from United Dairy for the summer meals program, which will include four daily sites, two special event sites and four special events.
• Approved the Allegan Area Education Services Agency budget, which includes a 13% increase for 2017-18.
• Approved a request for one year leave of absence from Dorr Elementary teacher Robyn Stevens, who will spend the 2017-18 academic year teaching overseas.
• Approved an adjustment in the school calendar, which will feature two more days off during Christmas break and the last day of school next year will be June 8 instead of June 12.
(Coleen Young contributed to this report)
