By HEATHER CLARK
for The Gazette
Stevens Point Area Public School District residents will have a chance to decide what - if any - projects the district should move forward with to address space needs in a November referendum.
The School Board Monday night voted unanimously to hold a referendum Nov. 2 asking for money to build additions, remodel and upgrade nearly all district buildings. A separate question will ask for dollars to exceed the district revenue caps for costs associated with operations, maintenance, technology and instructional purposes.
Monday, the board will meet to prioritize a $68 million laundry list of reported needs in elementary, junior high and high school buildings. What the referendum questions will include, how many will be placed on the ballot and what costs will be linked to them will be decided at the board's Monday, Aug. 23, meeting, based on discussions next week.
"We've got a lot of work to do in a short period of time," said Deb Wilz, School Board president.
The board has yet to receive feedback from seven of 20 people who conducted surveys of 43 community groups, including municipal government, businesses, nonprofit agencies, the hospital, parents, veterans and the YMCA. By next week, those results will be in and summarized for the board to study, officials said.
Those received to date show general support for proposed work at SPASH, including a 22-classroom addition, an expanded cafeteria to accommodate all students in a closed-campus setting and a new, small gymnasium.
Projects like new kindergarten classrooms, additional special needs space and addressing music and art areas in all the elementary schools showed general support as well.
Other items like updated maintenance, air conditioning, and additional classrooms, conference and storage space at various schools, a pool at Ben Franklin Junior High School and an auditorium at P.J. Jacobs Junior High yielded questions and concerns. Some of those areas the board has not reached consensus on as well.
Razing the existing Alternative High School building and constructing a new one also drew some concerns, according to the surveys.
"If we're going to accept those (question areas), we're going to have to do some educating of the community," Superintendent Emery Babcock said. That could take place with the help of a consultant and through forums and meetings held up until the referendum, he said.
With the amount of research yet to be done, including identifying technology needs and coming up with additional annual operating costs, a few board members questioned whether the November referendum was too soon. A special referendum could be held, but it would cost the district $8,000 to $10,000, officials said. The next referendum date without cost to the district would be in April 2000.
"We've been talking about this for two years, we know we have these needs and if we put it off there's a segment of the population that will say, 'well, they keep saying there are needs and we keep getting by, so let's get by for another two or three years,'" board member Mary Thurmaier said.
"We need to get on top of this and get going," she added.
In the roughly 60-minute discussion, there was brief talk about individual items to be included in the referendum, such as a swimming pool at Ben Franklin and a 500- to 700-seat auditorium at P.J. Jacobs.
"I believe a pool is needed at Ben Franklin for safety issues," board member Mike O'Meara said. "Drowning is a big cause of death in Wisconsin. We have rivers and lakes all over the place. I think it's an important life skill for people to have."
He also suggested, and similar comments were made from other board members, that the school district approach the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and the city of Stevens Point about going in on a joint effort to build an auditorium.
Other discussion focused on whether a one-lump question or several others would be better for the referendum.
"We were highly criticized after the last referendum for having so many questions," Wilz said, supporting as few questions as possible. "People said if you really need it, put it all together otherwise you're saying you really don't need something."
Board member Ray Haas disagreed, saying the community is smart enough to choose. "I don't think the public is so stupid they can't read the questions and make a decision," he said. "Give the public credit that they can think."
Board member Kate Wichman concurred, saying that a one-lump question could be dangerous.
"It'd be nice to just have two issues, but those people who may not want air conditioning or an auditorium may vote the whole thing down," she said. "I personally am strongly in favor of a swimming pool at Ben Franklin, but not to the extent that the whole referendum would go down."