Next planning night for school construction bond set

OTHELLO — The Othello School District will be asking voters to approve a school construction bond in a special election in February of 2018, but superintendent Chris Hurst doesn’t yet know what the figure will be.

Hurst doesn’t expect to fully know until just before May 25, when he plans to announce it at a public meeting. That will be the last of six public meetings on the matter. The next of those meetings will occur on April 11.

The meetings are for the purpose of bringing the community into the planning. Hurst hopes people will tell the school board how they envision the future of Othello schools.

Hurst noted the district has contracted an architect, a project manager and a bond finance advisor to develop three options from the input of teachers, school officials and the public at those meetings.

These specialists will work on mockups, cost estimates, preliminary state match, tax rates, timeline and other information the public needs to know. They should have their work done by April 11.

Although he won’t know the final numbers on April 11, Hurst will be able to present the three options at that meeting and the potential costs for each.

In meetings on April 25 and May 9, those in attendance will have the opportunity help modify any or all of the three options. They will also be able to express a preference among the options.

Hurst said 400 people attended a similar meeting on Jan. 30. A March 7 meeting drew 100. He hopes for 1,000 on April 11. He expects city officials, business leaders, educators and parents. The meeting will be streamed live on the district’s website. Click on the Facebook icon.

Hurst didn’t express his own preference last week. He did state the primary challenge to solve, which is over-crowding at all schools. The district serves 4,321 students. There are 951 at the middle school and 1,120 high school students.

The district has prepared for new school construction with the recent purchase of 81 acres on Lee Road.

The second consideration to learn from the folks is the educational needs they will want met. One, for sure, will be technology. The entire district student body, from kindergarten through high school will be one-to-one with laptop computers in August.

Under Hurst’s leadership, the district has been developing an educational plan that would make Othello the school district of the future (see Family Support Program in the March 15 Sun Tribune). It could be executed in either of the options the district’s planning group will present.