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A Mammoth Times Editorial |
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Friday, 28 March 2008 |
School bond issue: time is not on our side
Do we pay now or do we pay later? Whether or not to put the school bond issue on the June ballot was voted down during the March 3 Mammoth Unified School District meeting. That leaves several more months to examine with a fine-toothed comb the realities of building a new high school.
When in high school most of us didn't know or care about the machinations that went into making sure the buildings were up to standard, the electrical worked, and that the plumbing wouldn't back up when being overused by crowds during a high school football game. We took for granted that the lights in the gymnasium would go on so we could play volleyball and that the buses would be on time to take us from our homes to the front steps of the school and back.
Money woes continue to burden schools across the state and administrators do their best to maintain quality education without cutting the best assets students have: teachers. Regardless, superintendents around the state have had to become master financial jugglers to keep their educational programs above water.
A long time district employee told the Mammoth Times that even though the electrical system at the high school is not unsafe, it is inadequate and capped out because of all the new technology required for computer systems. Bathrooms need to be Disability Act compliant and the entire school needs to be upgraded so that it is handicap accessible. The infrastructure is way below standard, especially the plumbing, which is said to be rotting within the walls. So, what is a school to do? Patch it up or tear it all down?
MUSD hired Caldewell Flores Winters (CFW) to conduct a survey to find out whether or not the community of Mammoth Lakes would support a new high school facility through a bond measure. Not only were the results of the survey a bit murky but the survey was conducted during President's Day Weekend, a time when CFW was told not to conduct a survey because many people were out of town. The survey was supposed to include 400 community members, but fell short of that at 280. Results indicated that a little more than half the parents surveyed would support a school bond measure to the tune of approximately $70 million in order to build a new high school and add much needed classroom space to both the middle school and the elementary schools.
The new middle school averaged $400 per square foot to build. The new library averaged $600 to construct. The longer we wait to build a new high school, we are taking a chance that we will have priced ourselves out of the market. It has to be done.
With time on the side of the district to decide which way to go, the community needs to step up and help with the process. In some instances the views of people within our town limits have become fractured because of different political or moral opinions, but the one thing we can agree on is that our children need safe and healthy environments in which to learn. Doing it now or doing it later, reconstructing a new facility for MHS needs to be addressed and time is not on our side.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Mammoth Times Editorial Board.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 April 2008 )
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