School board to look at $10 million bond

By Kim Cox
kcox@campcountynow.com

A $10 million bond election is on the table for the Pittsburg school district to cover safety and classroom needs for each campus in the district.
According to Judy Pollan, the school district’s superintendent, there are no frills in the plan.
“These are basic needs,” she said.
An informational meeting, held Monday night at the high school auditorium, gathered school board members, school administrators and many members of the public to hear what the possible bond election would be about. Mrs. Pollan said she wanted to get as many facts out to the public as early as possible.
“I believe if they [the public] have the truth, they will do the right thing,” she said.
Elementary School
Stephanie McConnell, principal of the elementary, said of her 600 students, grades two through four, one third of them are taught in old, portable buildings. The plan is to remove the portable buildings and replace them with a fourth grade wing, set along the driveway next to the school that leads to the old football field. The bond would also take care of covering the open wings, turning them into hallways. Turnette Truitt, a teacher at the school, was also on hand to explain.
“It would be very nice to have them enclosed, especially during the weather we had today [Monday],” she said.
Students leave the portable buildings to go to their other classes, like music or the gym, and in dangerous weather like a tornado, they have to head to the main building.
Cafetorium
The cafetorium serves both the elementary and intermediate schools feeds 900 students every weekday, starting at 10:45 a.m. and ending at 12:40. The proposal is to add another line to the cafetorium, along with some extra seating,” Mrs. McConnell said.
“We would love to have a third serving line to move the children through their faster,” Mrs. Truitt said. “When we have assemblies, there are not enough seats, so we move all the tables to the side and let everyone sit on the floor. It would be really nice if we all had seats.”
Intermediate School
The school district is in the process of replacing the front door mentioned in an earlier article of The Gazette, and is in the process of building a foyer for the intermediate school, according to Mrs. Pollan. Sarah Richmond, the principal at the intermediate, said they still need a privacy fence and three additional classrooms.
“Our playground is too close to the road,” Mrs. Richmond said. “Some of the people walking down the road have a question mark over their heads. We have a lot of unsavory foot-traffic on that street. It would be a protective barrier between the road and students.”
The three additional classrooms would keep the fifth grade on one side of the building and the sixth grade on the other side.  
High School
The high school’s needs come from the career and technology classrooms. According to Jonathan Hill, the principal at the school, 18 times a day, students are bused half a mile, just over the railroad tracks, to the ag building, what once was the Pittsburg Youth Center.
“That’s 200 students a day,” he said.
An ag complex on campus would solve that, and allow teachers to utilize their class time better, without adding in a bus trip. The high school campus also has two portable buildings that need to be replaced with actual classrooms.
Willie Morgan, one of the career and technology teachers, said people have asked him about the two new ag buildings next to the administration. He said they see a lot of use, and if anyone has any doubts, they can come to a class and see.
“Come by and see what we are challenged with,” he said. “We need both.”
Junior High School
Terri Brown, principal of the junior high, and Anna Sewell, a teacher there, stood to speak about the middle school. The junior high’s part of the bond would mean expanding the band hall, building a security fence and building two new classrooms to get rid of portable buildings from 1992.
“It wasn’t ever intended to be in use this long,” Mrs. Brown said.
She said the side lawn was where students played soccer and other sports, and there was nothing separating them from school grounds and the road.
“We need a fence around that and a fence in back, because anyone can walk up in that area,” Mrs. Sewell said.
The band hall at the junior high serves 60 to 80 students, and is only 900 square feet. The room is so crowded, Mrs. Sewell said, that students have a hard time holding their instruments.
Primary School
The primary school’s part in the bond election would cover two major needs. The school’s enrollment has grown to the point they need more than the four bathrooms they have, two for each gender at each end of the building, and to add a new parking lot, which will make picking up and dropping off students safer for everyone.
“Our parking lot is extremely crowded,” said Vicki Rockett, the school’s principal.
She said this week classes would be hosting Valentine’s Day parties, but they have to stagger the times of the parties so parents have room to park.
“We can’t get the parents there without them parking at Broach Park or at the insurance place down the street,” she said.
The Cost
The cost of the complex breaks down to $771,000 for the primary, $936,000 for the junior high, $2.67 million for the intermediate/elementary, $1.4222 million for the cafetorium and $3 million for the high school. The total, Mrs. Pollan said, was actually less than $10 million, coming in at a little over $9 million. The extra iss for other things needed to move the project along. The school district has to pay $100,000 to Southwest Securities to handle the bonds, and because the project hasn’t been bid on yet, the projected cost is only an estimate.
“School construction is not like normal construction,” Mrs. Pollan said. “There are laws governing everthing, the electric system, square footage.”
Compass Builders has been used by the school district as project managers for many construction projects, and they provided the estimates.
“We have never had a cost overrun with them,” she said.
The bond would raise the I&S, or interest and sinking fund, tax rate by five cents. The current I&S rate would disappear in four and a half years anyway, she said. In a $150,000 home, that would be $60 a year, and for people 65 and older, their taxes wouldn’t go up at all.
“We implore you to consider the facts,” Mrs. Pollan said. “We’re desperate to get something done at Pittsburg ISD.
“Is it more important to have $60 for a nice meal with your family, or $60 and have a nice facility for our kids?”
Mrs. Pollan said the bond election would coincide with the school board election in May. If it passes, it would take about two years to finish the projects. The school board will decide whether or not to pursue a bond election at the Feb. 25 school board meeting.