After USD 489 bond election administration looks ahead

On this episode of the Post Podcast, USD 489 superintendent Ron Wilson and public relations director Chrisy Crough. Public Relations speaks with Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney about the next steps follow the passage of a district bond issue.

 

Transcript:

EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.

 

James Bell 

The USD 489 bond issue has passed. Now the district's work begins. Superintendent Ron Wilson speaks with Hays Post reporter Christina Janney about that along with public relations specialist Chrisy Crough, on this episode of the Post Podcast.

 

Cristina Janney 

We're here to talk a little bit about the USD 49 bond that passed on Tuesday night, the $143.5 million bond passed with 53% of voters voting for the bond. In addition, almost 60% of voters approved a half cent suit, hey, city of hate sales tax that will help pay for the bond. Good morning, Ron and Christie, how are you?

 

Ron Wilson 

Great. We're feeling good.

 

Cristina Janney 

So what do you think the passage of the bond means for the future students and staff in the high school districts?

 

Ron Wilson 

Well, I think what what it means I think, as we've looked at this whole process is that it's people have said, we want to invest in our kids want to invest in our educational staff, and we want to invest in our community. And I think that's really what this means is that they said, This is important, and this is what needs to happen in the community. Hey, so from looking at all aspects of it, we're, we just feel that it's going to be a great thing for Hayes for a long, long time, and really gonna pay it forward.

 

Cristina Janney 

So the voter turnout on Tuesday was 38%, which is pretty high for a special election. Were you pleased with the voter turnout?

 

Ron Wilson 

Yeah, extremely pleased that we said from the beginning, that, you know, we always felt like we had more support than opposition, as long as we could get those who supported the bond to go out and vote, we felt like we could get this accomplished. And I think 38% is a, if you look at the history of bond votes, it's pretty high number. So I think that's exactly what we set out to do. We got accomplished.

 

Cristina Janney 

So what are the next steps in the bond process?

 

Chrisy Crough

Yeah, so the next steps will be to meet with the staff on each of the schools, teachers, administrators, kitchen staff, coaches, all that sort of stuff to go over exactly what needs to be done in those buildings, they know better than anybody else, because they're in the building. So they will have the input on that. They'll work with the architects directly. And then they'll go back and forth with the drawings and see what happens, the high school will be the first, the first building that is that's done that's focused on, and then we'll move through the other buildings after that.

 

Cristina Janney 

Just to remind people, so the main tenant of this bond is that we're build a new high school, and then the high school will be renovated into a middle school, and then the current Middle School will be renovated into an elementary school. Roosevelt, and often schools will also have some renovations and additions. And then Wilson will close as an elementary school but still be repurposed for district needs. And Rockwell will be closed completely, and west side will be moved. So do we know when we're going to be able to break ground on that first building on the on the high school?

 

Ron Wilson 

Yeah, well, that's That's the million dollar question, though. You know, like Chris, you mentioned, it's right now, it's just a lot of conversations. We've got approximately a year of visiting with people getting what we feel is the best design, will the architects will draw design will get estimated cost then and always be going back and forth. I would hope. I mean, I don't hold me to this. But I would, I would hope we would be breaking ground a year from now. Or maybe sooner. But I think tentatively we're probably looking at an April May, breaking ground for from the new high school.

 

Chrisy Crough

And I spoke with Sorry to interrupt anybody here, but I spoke with Dr. Last night, we were talking about it. And they were saying that the civil engineers will be out there looking at the ground where the new high school will be built out looking how it slopes, looking where the electrical could go looking at all of the different logistics of it all to make, you know, just before they start really building and designing everything.

 

Cristina Janney 

And for people who may not know the high school, the new high school will be built to the east of the current High School on ground that is already owned by the school district.

 

Ron Wilson 

Yeah, that's that's been a blessing to have already had district owned property throughout this process. And the district purchasing that that additional property, probably way back in the 70s was was just a great foresight for our community.

 

Cristina Janney 

Through this whole bond process. We've talked a lot about How having those two buildings the new high school and what will be the renovated middle school being in close proximity how that'll benefit students? Do you want to talk a little bit about that,

 

Ron Wilson 

I think it just opens so many doors that we currently don't have open because of just the location of the high school, middle school, I mean, naturally, the big thing is, we're going to have an auditorium for our high school, as well as our middle school, the high auditorium will be actually housed at the new high school, but it will have easy access for our middle school students who will be utilizing that for performances, to just walk across their campus, to the to the auditorium and, and whether it's a band concert that evening, they'll be able to practice and then utilize that for the evening performance. So Well, I think it's just those are the things that are that seem logical, but then there's just so many avenues where, you know, what, even high school kids coming, and we're gonna have some things working with maybe some middle school kids and things like that, that just opened doors that we've never even considered. And I think that's what's exciting about this whole proposal, athletic services, of course, that's really something we're gonna have athletic surfaces out there on the on our campus, which will be available for middle school and high school student athletes. And I think that that is something we're really excited about.

 

Chrisy Crough

And to add to that, the middle school, which will be moving into the current high school will have the career and technology classes that they don't have right now at the current Middle School, solely because of space. So they will get those the woods and the metal shop and the the electric car, you know, all of that sort of stuff will be in there that's already in the high school, but now the middle school students will be able to access that.

 

Cristina Janney 

So is there an estimated completion time for the high school building?

 

Ron Wilson 

Yeah, I mean, the estimated timeline is that we're we're hoping to move our high school students into a new building in August at the start of school in August of 2024. That's, that's our target date. We'll also target to have all of our other schools renovated by August of 2025. Now all that information can be found on our USD 49. website, under timeline, under the bond information. So yeah, if you have any questions about timeline, be sure to check that out.

 

Cristina Janney 

I don't we're several years off from the consolidation, and the closing of Lincoln school. But do you want to talk a little bit about how the redistribution of students will work when that happens here and a few years out?

 

Ron Wilson 

Sure, I will be adding sections to each elementary to one section to each elementary, that'll that'll be the increase, that won't, you won't see a huge increase in each building, but I think that's it, we'll, we'll evenly distributed among the three elementaries that will remain in our district and, and give us some, you know, functionality in terms of, of spacing and space available. And when people were still district of choice, meaning they parents get to choose where their kids go to school. So, having that additional space just gives us that functionality to make sure we can we can definitely meet those requests, as best we can.

 

Cristina Janney 

I know through this bond process, some people have expressed some concerns about the increased traffic on 13th Street when the new high school is constructed, what steps will the school district and the city be taking to address that issue?

 

 

So, once Well, obviously, prior to we kept saying once this passes, we will do that, but now it has passed so we can actually speak of it in present tense, but we will meet with the city we will do traffic studies and see exactly what needs to be done how the flow of traffic will work. We have looked into some grants that there that are out there that can help with the with the cost of it because we do know that there will be additional traffic we do understand, you know, we will have to stagger start and dismissal times to help with the flow of traffic but it will be addressed as far as what it is at this point. We don't know once we really look into it, but it will be addressed and and make it function out there.

 

Cristina Janney 

So Christy and Ron, are there anything else that you would like to add or let the our listeners know about the bond now that it has passed?

 

Ron Wilson 

Well, I think the thing is that I want to make sure everyone understand is we're we're really proud of what we do and USD 49. But with the passing of this bond, I think it's it's about how proud we can become on what we can become with with the passing of this bond. It's just gonna Oh Put some things that we have. We've dealt with for a lots and lots of years. And it was it was, it was a tough process. I mean, it's it was been a lot of work and a lot of dedicated, committed people in our community who came together and really rallied together to make this happen. And I'm I'm just appreciative and feel very blessed to be have been a part of that. You know, special shout out to Chrissy Crowe for what she's done for, for getting the right information out, helping educate our community, on really what was was done and what was what is needed. And so we're we're just, it's been a, it's been a really a tough process, but also kind of uplifting in a lot of ways, because we've all learned how together, you know, when people come together, how we can get things accomplished.

 

Cristina Janney 

I know, there's been a lot of discussion about the high cost of maintaining some of these older buildings, which Lincoln by the time this project is completed will be 100 years old. So is there hopes that some of the capital improvement, many that's been having to be spent on maintenance and fixing older buildings will be able to be directed towards other projects?

 

Ron Wilson 

Yeah, that's, that's the thing we're really excited about, because we haven't had a lot of flexibility in our capital improvement spending. I mean, it's basically we've been spending dollars base to keep keep the boat on the water and not have it sink. And so when by passing of this bond, we're going to we're going to take care of a lot of those needs. And that's going to free up a lot of capital outlay funds that we can now look at some of those special projects that the board wants to prioritize and, and really do some really great things for our schools.

 

Anything else?

 

Ron Wilson 

I I'm just just, hi. I'm extremely excited. Bill really blessed that we got this done. And it's been, it's been a long haul but it's gonna be well worth it and it's gonna pay forward for lots and lots of years.