HENDERSON (TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH) - Henderson ISD will decide next week whether to make a third attempt at getting voter approval for a new middle school.
Trustees
could call a bond election during a Monday meeting, which is scheduled
for noon in the board room, 200 N. High St. An open forum will take
place at the meeting.
The bond, estimated at $27 million, would
fund a new middle school on the site of the current facility. The
district plans to incorporate three older middle school buildings,
including the band hall and sixth-grade wing, into a new campus.
Last
week, the district received information from its financial adviser on
how the bond would affect the tax rate, and an architect talked about
potential project cost and had renderings of what the new campus might
look like, Superintendent Keith Boles said.
If a bond election
occurred and the issue passed, there would be about a 9-cent tax rate
increase for district residents, he said.
That means someone with a $100,000 home in the district would pay an additional $4.88 per month.
As
far as looks, Boles said the new school would be one story, and
students would no longer have to go outside in between classes because
everything would be under one roof.
Safety is a big concern at
Henderson Middle School because there are nine separate buildings and 44
entrances, Stacey Sullivan, director of human resources and
communication, said.
"There's no way to keep our students from
going building to building," she said last week. "They have to go in
between buildings while changing classes."
The age of the building also is a concern, she
said, citing foundation issues, two classrooms that no longer are deemed
safe and less than adequate technology infrastructure.
She noted
that Henderson High School has advanced technology as well as a Bring
Your Own Device program, which allows students to use electronic
devices, such as tablets, cellphones and laptops in classrooms with
teacher permission. However, the district cannot do the same at the
current middle school, Ms. Sullivan said last week.
Additionally,
she has said classroom sizes at the middle school are not in line with
Texas Education Agency standards, and the school is not ADA (Americans
with Disabilities Act) compliant.
If a bond passed, the district
would have community and staff committees that would meet with the
architect and help with the middle school's design, Boles said.
This would be the third time that a new middle school has gone before the public.
In 2011, voters narrowly defeated a $26 million bond that would have funded a middle school.
Before
that bond, a $39.2 million bond failed in November 2010 that would have
funded a middle school, renovations and additions at Northside
Intermediate School, an auditorium at Henderson High School and
artificial turf at Lions Stadium.
"The needs haven't changed,"
Boles said. "The needs we had back in 2011 are still there. The building
has served us well, but now it's ... in constant need of repair."
