The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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December 1, 2007

East Newton panel proposes placing ballot issue on hold

By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

GRANBY, Mo. — A committee will recommend that the East Newton School Board not pursue a ballot issue in April for construction of a new building or for renovations to existing buildings, an official said last week.

A building committee composed of school officials and residents arrived at that recommendation after examining the results of a survey that showed many residents supported construction of a new school building but were reluctant to pass a tax increase to fund the work. The committee’s recommendation will now go before the school board.

The results, coupled with comments on the survey about school programs in general, indicated that school officials needed more conversations with residents before proceeding with any ballot initiative, said Superintendent Tanya Vest.

“What we have decided to do is put things on hold for a while and continue discussions,” Vest said.

Those discussions, she said, will address more than just building needs based on feedback from the survey. A number of comments pertained to programs or policies that the school is required to have under state or federal law.

One person, for example, questioned why the school district did not eliminate Missouri Assessment Program testing. The school district is required to administer the MAP test by both state and federal laws, Vest said.

The school board last week discussed the results of a survey sent out to all of the school district residents. That service asked residents to rank five different building proposals aimed at relieving overcrowding.

Of the five proposals, the plan to erect a new high school on the current property and relocate grades six through eight to the current high-school building emerged as the favorite with a total of 121 first-place votes. That plan’s estimated price tag would be about $14.4 million.

A proposal calling for additions to all three of the school district’s current buildings came in second with 69 first-place votes. That project would cost a total of about $6.3 million.

School officials sought public views after an unsuccessful February ballot proposal to raise $12.2 million to pay for a new high school off of Highway 86. At the polls, 407 residents voted in favor of the plan, while 1,300 voted against it.



By the numbers

The school district sent out a total of 3,300 surveys to residents in the district asking them to rank five different building proposals aimed at relieving overcrowding. It received a total of 376 back, for a response rate of about 11.4 percent.

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