ROYAL SCHOOL BOND

I went to the bond meeting at Royal City Tuesday night. It was well attended, and I was impressed by that. This is what I learned between the meeting and the parking lot:

Almost everyone agrees that we have an overcrowding issue in all three schools. We currently have classes taking place in the hallways, stairwells, and outside (weather permitting) at Red Rock Elementary.

The Middle School is even more overcrowded. Some Teachers have to share classrooms and work out of carts. The high school is probably in the best shape but is experiencing crowding as well.

This year Red Rock welcomed seven kindergarten all day classes, which is the most ever to attend Royal. When the new Red Rock was first opened we had the equivalent of two all day kindergarten classes.

As these children work their way through the schools, these overcrowding issues will only be magnified. Royal City is not going away. The overcrowding will not go away.

Our bond commitee (mostly volunteer) has worked tirelessly to come up with an affordable plan to alleviate this overcrowding and plan for future growth. This plan builds an intermediate school which will incorporate the fifth grade pod, move the fourth graders out of Red Rock, move the sixth graders out of the Middle School. Also dedicate more than $1million to the high school for additional classrooms.

The state is offering a matching grant for $4.4 million dollars which will pay for nearly 1/3 of the project. Voting NO on this bond will only kick the can down the road a few years and we'll have another bond request which may or not have a nice fat match from the state. Also building costs, which have been low the last few years, are on the rise.

I don't like the idea of portables stacked throughout the Royal School campus for several reasons and one of them is safety. In a worst case scenario, managing a lockdown would be more manageable with one building and several entrance/exits versus many small buildings with several entrance/exits each.

I also know that the portables will not stand the test of time like the Intermediate building plan would for wear and tear. Let's build it right the first time.

I have always been proud of Royal City Schools. I would be the first to agree that there are problems and that we could do better but you could say this about any school district, any day of the week.

I have three family members that are teachers in Washington State. If their spouses could find work here and if housing wasn't such an issue they'd all love to teach at Royal. They are from different parts of the state and they only hear positive comments from their peers about the Royal School District.

Business, home and landowners cannot get away from paying school taxes. It is our God given right and job to educate the children of our district.

My farmer friends, who own land here but don't get to vote here chuckle about taxpayers of this district complaining about the cost of the bond. We are only paying for a maintenance levy right now. The last Bond has been paid for and is off the books. We're getting by rather cheaply compared to other districts.

Bottom Line is this. Go to the website www.royal.wednet.edu and get educated on your own. Don't let others that have their own agenda trick you into voting their way. Form your own opinion and be reasonable and objective. Then please vote your conscience.

I'm not going to ask you to vote yes or no. You are too smart for that. Do your research and then consider what we can do if we all get on the same page together. That page is education and what it means to our community.

I've always said that if we don't support education, we will have other social costs to pay. I'd rather pay for the school bond and produce crops of educated students.

Marilyn Meseberg

Royal City