Nine Mile Falls School District brings another bond forward

The Nine Mile Falls School District is asking voters to approve a construction bond for the third time in two years. The $33 million bond would pay for a new high school building, said district Superintendent Brian Talbott.

The previous bond request was for $29.4 million and wouldn’t have completely rebuilt the high school, only rebuilt or remodeled sections.

“The building that we currently utilize is not conducive to the educational needs that we have,” Talbott said. “And it’s also a concern in regards to student safety.”

Lakeside High School was built 25 years ago and is an oddly shaped building, Talbott said.

“When you have all those jigjags or zigzags in the classroom they are replicated in the hallways,” he said. “We have minimal eyeballs on folk that come in.”

Not being able to monitor and control who comes into the school is the primary safety concern, he said. However, the school’s facilities, especially the science labs, are lacking. Additionally the school’s one gym isn’t big enough, forcing student-athletes to stay late just to get gym space.

The new building would have dedicated labs for science classes, a multipurpose space for performing arts and music programs and a modernized and larger gymnasium.

Although the two previous bond measures failed, Talbott said replacing the building is a necessity.

“The need won’t go away,” Talbott said.

One of the difficulties in passing the bond is that many of the people living in the district are retirees and haven’t seen the state of the school. Although the building “looks good” from the outside, Talbott said coming inside shows the true need. The most recent bond measure was nearly 10 percentage points short of the necessary 60 percent to pass.

“This is not a Taj ma-high school,” Talbott said of the proposed design. “It doesn’t look like a ski lodge or a castle. But it is very comfortable and a good use of public funds.”

The bond would cost taxpayers $1.19 per $1,000 assessed property value. The 2015 bond, although cheaper overall, would have cost taxpayers more at $1.35 per $1,000 assessed property value.

“This is a new tax and it’s tough,” Talbott said. “And we will leave it to the voters to determine. At some point we are going to have to make a change.”

Ballots returned by mail must have proper postage and be postmarked by Nov. 8. Ballots also can be dropped off without postage at official elections drop boxes by 8 p.m. Nov. 8.