Signs are in front yards, letters are in The Webster-Kirkwood Times, and everyone living in the boundaries of the Kirkwood School District is talking about Propositions 1 and 2. The Kirkwood Call decided to investigate the props, dig through the arguments and take a stance in support.
It’s not very often that a penny spent means 3.5 cents earned, but Kirkwood has some lucky exceptions: Propositions 1 and 2. The Board of Education approved the resolution calling for a bond election in the Kirkwood School District Nov. 2, with a vote of 6-0. There has been controversy over approval of the bonds, but the potential benefits for Kirkwood schools and the community far outweigh any objections. After collecting facts and figures The Kirkwood Call voted to fully endorse the passage of both Proposition 1 and Proposition 2 in the upcoming election.
Many people are confused about the details of each proposition and need clarification. Proposition 1 is a no-tax-rate-increase bond whose cost comes to approximately $33.5 million. The majority of the money will go toward providing enough classrooms so that all students can attend kindergarten in their home school. Currently, North Glendale, Robinson and Keysor elementary buildings do not even have the capacity to serve all of their current kindergarten students. With those additions will also come improved traffic flow at the elementary schools. Every day as Keysor lets out, traffic on Geyer Road comes to a standstill. Not only is this a risk to the students, but to the drivers trying to get by as well. Prop. 1 will improve this by moving student drop offs and pick ups onto the school property instead of on the street.
North Glendale, Robinson and Keysor need additional gyms, multipurpose rooms and cafeterias as well. Security is not up to standard and getting there means moving the front offices to centralized locations in the Robinson and Keysor elementary buildings. Last but not least, both Nipher and North Kirkwood Middle Schools are in desperate need of new science classrooms.
Proposition 2 will mean a 4.5 cent (estimated) tax increase for an approximately $14.8 million project. This project is under the highest scrutiny since this would bring an aquatic center to KHS. Many argue the pool is unnecessary and too expensive in this economy, but the benefit-to-the-community estimates show otherwise. More important is the consideration that there’s much more riding on this bond than our swim team’s accommodations. One of these issues is improvement of handicapped accessibility to Lyons Stadium. Not only this, but the bond will replace home bleachers, press box, create a new entrance and renovate restrooms, fencing and sound system. After this there will be improvements to the baseball and softball fields at KHS. Additionally synthetic turf might be added to the upper fields for soccer, field hockey, lacrosse and physical education. The middle schools need help too, and field changes at both Nipher and North Kirkwood Middle Schools will be made, with a new track at Nipher Middle School. Finally, the addition of an indoor swimming pool for physical education classes, school and club swim teams will also be open to the public for swimming and other school and community recreation needs.
Together the two separate issues will provide approximately $48.3 million for renovation, construction and improvements to Kirkwood schools. At a cost of approximately 4.5 cents per $100 in taxes the propositions will put 400 people to work in the community. According to Heidi Meckes, chair of the board considering Prop. 1 and 2, the total benefit to the community would be around $168 million, almost 3.5 times the amount of cost for the projects. It’s not every day that a penny spent can mean that many earned.
