Old school buildings no longer fit educational needs

Posted Friday, October 9, 2009, at 4:38 PM

From Ray Finley
Marshall

I have professionally serviced the Marshall Public Schools for many years. I am familiar with all of the buildings and am aware of the deteriorating conditions that exist. Years ago, the public passed a bond issue to build a new high school, then much later, the people said yes to the renovation of our facilities. We haven't made a great deal of forward progress since.

What was once a basic curriculum that featured reading, writing and arithmetic has exploded into a curriculum rich in opportunities to prepare the kids for the future. Those programs not only require new materials, technology and expertise on the part of the instructors, but also the space in which to follow through. Antiquated trailers and classrooms in closets and under the stairways are not conducive to what we want to achieve.

It has been a long time since we passed a bond issue. This is the time to take advantage of federal stimulus money and low interest rates. We are the only community in the surrounding area that has failed to pass such a bond. the longer we wait, the more the new facilities will cost.

Let's not get bogged down with the fine points of the plan. No plan is going to suit everyone. However, the one being proposed was formulated using the input of school faculty and administration and the ideas of those interested citizens who attended the open meetings.

Do the right thing for our kids and for the future. Let everyone know that we truly care about education in Marshall.

Editor's note: This letter is slated to be published in The Marshall Democrat-News Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009.

Comments
Showing comments in chronological order
[Show most recent comments first]

Ray, I'm sure you've seen parts of our buildings most people would never see. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to let others know how important this issue is to our children and our community.

-- Posted by oneofmany on Sun, Oct 11, 2009, at 5:55 PM

i am in favor of the new school but my thought we are going to pass this bond for a school for only a couple of grades to get them out of the trailers which i do believe are not conducive to teaching in. but after the new school is built we are going to renovate a school beuker which is the oldest school in town. i think if you are going to build a school and we are going to spend the money why not build a school that will house all the grades i know it is a huge undertaking but if we look down the road 30 years you are goign to have to replace beuker anyway it doesnt make since to renovate a school that is beyond its like and build a school for only a couple of grades make a school campus with k-8 make it state of the art. then we would not be comeing back to the citizens in 20 years asking for more money. as it is right now i am voting NO for the bond. children need a school to learn in not something that is old and in a few years will need replacing do it now not in the future.

-- Posted by retired military on Wed, Oct 14, 2009, at 11:27 AM

retired military,

Once this bond is passed and the building is paid for, the next plan is to build a new K-2 building.

By the time there is a bond for a new middle school, it will most likely not go toward renovating an old building -- a new middle school will probably be built.

Just wanted to clarify the future plans.

Citizens for the School Bond

-- Posted by Citizens for the School Bond on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 1:29 PM

I too will vote no on anything less than a k-8 building. We need new for all grades not just a few.

-- Posted by litlmissme on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 5:20 PM

one thing I have never seen in the topics is how much are they willing to pay for the land at the country club...What is the asking price..??and for how many acres??

-- Posted by drop555 on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 6:15 PM

I would also like to add why is this costing so much?? I just got off of Sedalia's web site and they built their High School for 22 million if what I read is correct. Their bond issue was passed two years ago but 22 mil for a High School and we are being asked for 20 mil for three grade school levels...Does not make sense...

Sorry and thanks

-- Posted by drop555 on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 6:41 PM

drop555,

Sedalia's new high school is only three grade levels. They just have 10-12 at the new high school.

And the property they are proposing to build the new school on was the cheapest that they were offered--$9000 per acre.

litlmissme:

Our current bonding capacity is only $20 million. I'm sure the board would love to propose to build a K-8 building, but we cannot borrow that much money. Obviously that is the best option, but it's not possible.

-- Posted by fvsol on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 9:28 PM

For some of you who keep bringing up the K-8 building, you need to go back and read some of the previous posts and comments. With our current population, a K-8 building would have a MINIMUM OF 72 CLASSROOMS!!! That would be two times bigger than Bueker! It would probably need two gyms and two cafeterias. Can you imagine how much more land that would require. Again, thanks fvsol, for pointing out the bonding capacity again. We are building as much as our bonding capacity allows by law. We really have no one to blame but ourselves. If we had passed it previously, we would have had a K-2 building and a 3-5 building built by now for much less money.

-- Posted by oneofmany on Thu, Oct 15, 2009, at 10:09 PM

thanks for the info on the high school, I understand the three grade level but the necessary equip and tools, labs, for the higher level of education of a high school is at least half of the expense of a new building. Three throught five will never require the equipment a high school will...Nor will it require the space a high school will.

thanks for the info on price of land, it has gone down since the last bond issue.

-- Posted by drop555 on Fri, Oct 16, 2009, at 10:00 AM

Also, the $9,000 per acre asking price was the lowest price of the five properties offered. Others ranged as high as $25,000 per acre.

I hope folks who have questions about the site, the building design, etc. please take a look at the stories we've published since June at

www.marshallnews.com/topic/mpsdbond09/

There are also links on that page to stories from the bond issues past so you can get a sense for the decade-long process that led up to this election issue.

-- Posted by Eric Crump on Fri, Oct 16, 2009, at 12:38 PM

I don't understand what the age of the building has to do with the quality of education. Tell the folks at Notre Dame, Princeton, Harvard that their education is somehow sub-standard because of the ancient buildings that they learn in. I know children in town that are being raised in old homes and new homes and that has very little to do with the quality of parenting that they experience. It doesn't matter how new our buildings are, if they're not mantained or funded, there's going to be problems. I think the city of Marshall will always support what it wants. I still believe it wants neighborhood schools. I do agree about getting rid of the trailors, but the building could be expanded in those areas. Don't tell me there's not room. There is!

-- Posted by windowview on Fri, Oct 16, 2009, at 6:06 PM

Windowview,

Before you set your mind that the condition of a school building has no influence on a child's education, please check out these links from the other article on the bond issue:

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/schoolhouse/C/stor...

http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/publicatio...

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/documents...

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/eri...

http://www.nfer.ac.uk/nfer/publications/...

http://www.sagusinternational.com/downlo...

http://www.designcommunity.com/discussio...

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/eri...

-- Posted by fvsol on Fri, Oct 16, 2009, at 8:38 PM

i guess im just confused....why is where this school is even an issue? if parents dont want their kids to be bussed then maybe they should take them. there isn't a kid inmarshall that is too good for a bus. my family loves this location for one good reason, my son is in kindergarten and we live two blocks from benton, my wife and i both work out of town. but the school board says we live too close for our k student to be bussed, so its either he walk, and cross three busy intersections at 6 years old, which isn't gonna happen or one of us changes our schedule to take him. and for any of you that think the bussing problem we have will get worse, i think different, most of the problems that occur now are due to the shuttling of kids from school to school, this would eliminate all of this headache, the busses could run strict routes and actually be more efficient in the process.

-- Posted by thisguy on Mon, Oct 19, 2009, at 12:59 PM

I believe this website will answer a lot of questions - http://www.yes4schools.info/ - check it out!

-- Posted by outsidelookin'in on Wed, Oct 21, 2009, at 10:22 AM

am i confused or did i just not say that in 20 years when the bill is paid the school board would come back and ask for more money, and you just said that is the plan so why not build the school now and not have to come back and ask us for more money.

"Once this bond is passed and the building is paid for, the next plan is to build a new K-2 building."

"By the time there is a bond for a new middle school, it will most likely not go toward renovating an old building -- a new middle school will probably be built"

so what is the difference in what i said and what you just said. i get it you are on the school board and the rest of us are just footing the bill

-- Posted by retired military on Fri, Oct 23, 2009, at 7:48 AM

Retired military: The district cannot borrow enough money to build a school big enough to house all elementary grades and it can't borrow enough to build two schools right now. There is a $20.3 million limit to its bonding capacity. The district will have to pay off a portion of the new bond before it can borrow more money for a second building.

-- Posted by Eric Crump on Fri, Oct 23, 2009, at 12:06 PM

TODAY'S THE DAY! VOTE YES FOR THE KIDS.

-- Posted by Citizens for the School Bond on Tue, Nov 3, 2009, at 11:45 AM

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-- Posted by goldbaker88 on Fri, Dec 11, 2009, at 6:59 AM

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As the April 6 election approaches, voters in the Marshall Public School District will have much to say about the bond issue on the ballot and the proposed new elementary school the district will build if the issue is approved. Anyone who is interested in the issue can contribute an entry to this blog. However, only signed commentary will be posted as blog entries, but any MDN website user can post comments on the entries, just like on any other blog. We recommend community members use the Letter to the Editor form to submit their views on the issue. Commentary posted in this blog will also be published in the newspaper. We hope to see a wide range of views, with reasons given for positions taken, questions asked and concerns respectfully expressed. Anyone wishing to read articles about the bond issue and facility problems it is intended to address may wish to visit www.marshallnews.com/topic/mpsdbond09.

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