Bond money could be used to build new school
By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, Herald Staff Writer
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The Ottawa school board likely will ask residents to build another elementary school through a bond, but not until the new year.
The bond, expected to be as much as $30 million, would be used to build a new school on the west side of Ottawa and to replace or renovate Eugene Field Elementary School plus renovations or additions to Ottawa High School.
Dean Katt, superintendent, said the board would not be prepared for the general election in November, so the city would need to have a special election for the bond.
An ordinance restricts having another election until 60 days after the general election. That means the earliest the election could be organized would be early 2009.
Katt said if voters approved the bond issue, the mill levy would continue at its current rate instead of decreasing as planned. If the mill levy was kept the same, property taxes would not have to be raised to fund the $20 to $30 million bond, Katt said.
Marge Stevens, a school board member who represents Eugene Field, said she doubted another school bond issue would pass. The district does not have enough money to do everything on its agenda, she said.
If passed, the bond would allow the district to build a new pre-K through fifth-grade school on property the district owns at 19th and Eisenhower streets.
Eugene Field would be renovated and expanded, and students who regularly attend the older school would be relocated to the new school during construction.
When construction at Eugene Field has been completed, the city would be redistricted to include the new school.
“That will give us room for elementary students for quite a few years in the future,” Katt said.
Katt said a new elementary school was needed because the district saw an increase of 100 students in its elementary schools last year, and it will continue to see high rates of growth.
He said a recent research project by Eugene Field’s fifth graders would play a role in the future of the school. However, he said the district would do more studies of the building and have public input meetings on the topic before making any decisions.
The fifth graders at Eugene Field recommended that the building be repaired, but not replaced.
Students said the repairs needed were minimal in comparison to building a new school. They also said the recently acquired space on the corner of Seventh and Tremont streets next to the school would be enough room for expansion.
Stevens said the project could have an impact, but she didn’t know if both a parking lot and a school extension could be built on the limited available space.
“Whether we can give them those things in a land-locked situation, I don’t know,” she said. “I think we will always have a Eugene there.”
Josh Robinson, Eugene Field principal, said the school probably would need to be replaced even though he would like to see it renovated.
He also said if the school bond did not pass and a new school was not built, he did not know where the Eugene Field students would be relocated because the other buildings did not have enough room to absorb them.
Gould Evans Associates of Lawrence has been contracted by the district to design plans for the projects.
No other decisions on the project will be made until the school board’s next meeting June 9, Katt said.
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