Former board member sees flaws in WCS building plan
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Folk said today she will make a decision by the end of the week.
To launch a remonstrance, Kosciusko County Clerk Sharon Christner said Folk needs to collect 100 signatures and turn them in to her office by 4 p.m. June 25.
"We're waiting on her to come in and pick up the petition," said Christner. "She hasn't done that yet."[[In-content Ad]]Signatures may include property owners or registered voters within the Warsaw School District.
This represents a change in law that took effect last year. Previously, only property owners could sign remonstrance petitions. Under current law, property owners and registered voters can sign.
From June 26 to July 10, the clerk's office would verify the registered voters on the petition. The county auditor's office would verify the names of property owners on the petition from July 11-20. The petition then would be returned to the clerk's office for certification July 21-30. The petition then would be presented to the school board.
The school board must hold a hearing and decide if they want to proceed with the project. If the school board decides to proceed, it would require another public notic, Christner said. That triggers a 30-day cooling-off period. Then another round of petitions would start for or against the project.
"It's new to us so we're learning it," said Christner of the process. "We haven't had training on it yet."
Deb Wiggins, school board member, questioned the reasoning behind Folk's threatened remonstrance.
"I find her remonstration interesting as, she was on the board to close the schools, which compounded the space issue we face today," said Wiggins. "Therefore, why remonstrate when there were very poor decisions that put us in the position we are today."
Wiggins said the school board has looked at the issue, studied it, and hired professionals to study the issue.
"To study the issue to death is not n't want students being taught in closets and mobile classrooms as they are now.
School Board President Ron Yeiter was one of the school board members who voted against the 2003 school closings. This morning, Yeiter said Folk might be able to drum up 100 signatures, but in the long run, he said she might have some difficulty. Yeiter said the board is looking at the needs of the kids and considering the tax impact.
"I'm not even sure what direction she's headed into," Yeiter said, adding he didn't know what Folk was trying to accomplish.
The remonstrance process could push construction and renovations back a full year. The process already is behind, Yeiter said, because the board probably should have moved forward with the project in February or March.
Folk wrote a letter to the editor Tuesday night, which appears in today's edition. She also spoke by telephone this morning on why she is considering the remonstrance.
She said most of her reasons are "based on the tax increase and all the other factors going into that."
The board should have developed a master plan that looked at everything, not just the elementary schools, she said.
"If it's not the right plan, then what good is it?" she said.
During the 2003-04 school year, the school board had a $30 million building project on the table. Folk voted in favor of that project, but it was halted by a remonstrance.
Following that remonstrance, the board decided to close three elementary schools. When the board decided to close the schools, the board knew they had to do something eventually. She said the new project is going to affect the taxpayers and not address all the needs of the school corporation.
She said after taxpayers receive their tax bills for Step 1, the corporation will never get to steps 2 and 3. That will leave the school corporation with two new schools and two renovated schools that won't be any bigger than the schools they have now, and will still have an overcrowding problem. Fok claims demographic studies show the growth for Warsaw Schools is in the north and east, but they're keeping the schools all the same size.
She said she doesn't think the school board has thought through the building project, but she does agree something needs to be done.
"We've gone from doing nothing to pie in the sky," Folk said.
The board needs to let the public know how they are going to address the crowding issues at the middle and high schools, but that doesn't mean they need to spend $200 million.
On May 21, the school board approved moving forward with Step 1 of Option A by a vote of 6 to 1, with board member Delores Hearn opposed.
Step 1 includes replacing Leesburg Elementary with a new four-section school for $16 million; expanding and renovating Claypool and Jefferson schools for $10 million each; and replacing Madison with a new four-section school for $16 million. The total bond issue for Step 1 is $65 million. The total cost for the entire Option A is approximately $100 million. The other two steps, if approved, would include addressing the facility needs of the other elementary schools in the school corporation, as well as the two middle schools.
Todd Samuelson, Umbaugh & Associates, Plymouth, said the estimated tax rate impact for the $65 million bond issue per $100 of assessed valuation is $0.1771. The maximum term to pay the bond back is 26 years.
At the end of the 2003-04 school year, Atwood, Silver Lake and Claypool elementary schools were closed. Since then, students at those schools have been transported to other schools, causing overcrowding. Folk was one of the school board members who voted in 2003 to close Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake schools.
Before the decision was made to close the three schools, the school board considered a $30 million building project and expansion,
Anyone interested in signing or helping Folk with the remonstrance petition can contact her via e-mail at [email protected] or call her at 574-453-4413.
Folk said today she will make a decision by the end of the week.
To launch a remonstrance, Kosciusko County Clerk Sharon Christner said Folk needs to collect 100 signatures and turn them in to her office by 4 p.m. June 25.
"We're waiting on her to come in and pick up the petition," said Christner. "She hasn't done that yet."[[In-content Ad]]Signatures may include property owners or registered voters within the Warsaw School District.
This represents a change in law that took effect last year. Previously, only property owners could sign remonstrance petitions. Under current law, property owners and registered voters can sign.
From June 26 to July 10, the clerk's office would verify the registered voters on the petition. The county auditor's office would verify the names of property owners on the petition from July 11-20. The petition then would be returned to the clerk's office for certification July 21-30. The petition then would be presented to the school board.
The school board must hold a hearing and decide if they want to proceed with the project. If the school board decides to proceed, it would require another public notic, Christner said. That triggers a 30-day cooling-off period. Then another round of petitions would start for or against the project.
"It's new to us so we're learning it," said Christner of the process. "We haven't had training on it yet."
Deb Wiggins, school board member, questioned the reasoning behind Folk's threatened remonstrance.
"I find her remonstration interesting as, she was on the board to close the schools, which compounded the space issue we face today," said Wiggins. "Therefore, why remonstrate when there were very poor decisions that put us in the position we are today."
Wiggins said the school board has looked at the issue, studied it, and hired professionals to study the issue.
"To study the issue to death is not n't want students being taught in closets and mobile classrooms as they are now.
School Board President Ron Yeiter was one of the school board members who voted against the 2003 school closings. This morning, Yeiter said Folk might be able to drum up 100 signatures, but in the long run, he said she might have some difficulty. Yeiter said the board is looking at the needs of the kids and considering the tax impact.
"I'm not even sure what direction she's headed into," Yeiter said, adding he didn't know what Folk was trying to accomplish.
The remonstrance process could push construction and renovations back a full year. The process already is behind, Yeiter said, because the board probably should have moved forward with the project in February or March.
Folk wrote a letter to the editor Tuesday night, which appears in today's edition. She also spoke by telephone this morning on why she is considering the remonstrance.
She said most of her reasons are "based on the tax increase and all the other factors going into that."
The board should have developed a master plan that looked at everything, not just the elementary schools, she said.
"If it's not the right plan, then what good is it?" she said.
During the 2003-04 school year, the school board had a $30 million building project on the table. Folk voted in favor of that project, but it was halted by a remonstrance.
Following that remonstrance, the board decided to close three elementary schools. When the board decided to close the schools, the board knew they had to do something eventually. She said the new project is going to affect the taxpayers and not address all the needs of the school corporation.
She said after taxpayers receive their tax bills for Step 1, the corporation will never get to steps 2 and 3. That will leave the school corporation with two new schools and two renovated schools that won't be any bigger than the schools they have now, and will still have an overcrowding problem. Fok claims demographic studies show the growth for Warsaw Schools is in the north and east, but they're keeping the schools all the same size.
She said she doesn't think the school board has thought through the building project, but she does agree something needs to be done.
"We've gone from doing nothing to pie in the sky," Folk said.
The board needs to let the public know how they are going to address the crowding issues at the middle and high schools, but that doesn't mean they need to spend $200 million.
On May 21, the school board approved moving forward with Step 1 of Option A by a vote of 6 to 1, with board member Delores Hearn opposed.
Step 1 includes replacing Leesburg Elementary with a new four-section school for $16 million; expanding and renovating Claypool and Jefferson schools for $10 million each; and replacing Madison with a new four-section school for $16 million. The total bond issue for Step 1 is $65 million. The total cost for the entire Option A is approximately $100 million. The other two steps, if approved, would include addressing the facility needs of the other elementary schools in the school corporation, as well as the two middle schools.
Todd Samuelson, Umbaugh & Associates, Plymouth, said the estimated tax rate impact for the $65 million bond issue per $100 of assessed valuation is $0.1771. The maximum term to pay the bond back is 26 years.
At the end of the 2003-04 school year, Atwood, Silver Lake and Claypool elementary schools were closed. Since then, students at those schools have been transported to other schools, causing overcrowding. Folk was one of the school board members who voted in 2003 to close Atwood, Claypool and Silver Lake schools.
Before the decision was made to close the three schools, the school board considered a $30 million building project and expansion,
Anyone interested in signing or helping Folk with the remonstrance petition can contact her via e-mail at [email protected] or call her at 574-453-4413.
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