Disappointment in school bond failure

I would like to express my extreme disappointment on the recent failure of the bond the Ritzville School District was trying to pass. According to the Adams County Auditor’s Office website, as of Wednesday, 02-10-16, at 2:36 p.m. a total of 814 people voted on the bond. 406 in favor and 408 against.

I really hope the 408 that voted against the bond did their due diligence to research the entire bond measure. I have a suspicion that all they heard was “new gym” and then they shut down. There was so much more to the bond than a second gym.

There was a presentation put on by the school district on two separate occasions. I was at the second presentation and there were maybe 20 people there. I was told there were less at the first. The school district put a lot of information in the presentations and less than 40 people showed up.

Is $12.8 million a lot of money? Yes. The gym project only accounted for $2.3 million of that $12.8 million. So if the gym project is taken off you have $10.5 million. When you consider $10.5 million, what’s another $2.3 million? It’s a drop in the bucket. In case you didn’t know, the state was kicking in $4.7 million for the high school portion.

As for the taxes on the bond, this would put us about the middle of the road in comparison to surrounding districts of similar size.

And this bond would have been under $2 more per $1,000 than we are paying on the current school bond that is about to expire.

As for the upgrades to the schools, I wonder how many of those 408 voters go to the schools on a regular basis. Why, in 2016, is there a school without central heating AND AC?

I have heard people say the schools have been operating that way for decades. Maybe we should go back to having school in a one room church house since they did it that way for a long time, in the old west. It is inexcusable when students have to bring blankets to class to keep warm because some of the classes are so cold and drafty. Or when the students are roasting in some of their classrooms because of the lack of central AC.

It may seem laughable to some, but when you get a note from a teacher asking parents to remind their children to use deodorant because the classrooms are so hot, I find that completely unsatisfactory. As a community, we should be embarrassed that we have let things go this long.

What about the fact that the school computers are refurbished computers from the Washington State Department of Corrections?

In regards to security, the windows and doors in the schools are old. How do you expect the school to control who comes and goes from the schools with old equipment?

This is a modern age with modern problems that need modern measures to combat them. To be continued...

Mark Cameron, Ritzville