Red Oak board sets bond issue vote – KMAland

(Red Oak) -- After months of meetings and discussion, a bond issue vote is set in the Red Oak School District.

At its regular meeting Monday evening, the Red Oak School Board approved the language for a June 27th vote on a $19.9 million referendum for renovation, remodeling and new construction at Red Oak High School and Inman Primary School. Red Oak School Superintendent Tom Messinger tells KMA News the board made some minor changes in the proposed language.

"Rather than saying it's the high school building, it's the high school campus," said Messinger. "They did also include the language stating it was the intention of the board to abate part of the payments with revenue that comes in through the penny sales tax and the SAVE dollars."

Under the district's facilities plan, the number of school campuses would be reduced to three. Red Oak Middle School would close, and the high school would house 7th through 12th graders. Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students would attend classes at Washington Elementary School, with Inman accommodating 1st through 6th graders.

"We do have a higher cost of operation than many of our peers do," he said. "It's from more buildings. We've had projections going out in the future that showed that we had to reduce our spending in the general fund by changing the structure of our buildings, and closing down campuses. It's paid for through SAVE dollars or through general obligation bonds, but then it also becomes a savings in the general fund, and helps solve the problems with our current spending trend."

School officials were forced to close the middle school in the first half of the 2014-2015 school year after a water leak caused major flooding in the building. While saying the century-old building's exterior is sound, Messinger says the interior has several issues.

"There's some window replacement, air conditioning replacement, heating and cooling work inside the building," the superintendent said. "But, the biggest part of it is, it's an additional campus we have to operate. When we looked at the scheduling of the buildings, and what it would mean if we would consolidate the buildings together, or close down a building, we did see the most savings in closing the middle school down into the general fund."

A committee consisting of district patrons is expected to campaign for passing the bond issue, which requires a 60% supermajority. In other business Monday night, the board approved the resignations of Dan Black as high school instrumental music teacher and sponsor, high school jazz band instructor and TLC grant program lead teacher, as well as Molly Cox as 3rd grade instructor and high school assistant softball coach.

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Red Oak board sets bond issue vote - KMAland