The proposal set forth by the Jefferson City Public Schools' Board of Education for consideration to be placed on the April election ballot promises to build a new high school and renovate the current one. For some in the community, however, building another high school is not enough if it doesn't come with a plan to build a new East Elementary School.
"I'm tired of things not being acceptable for other kids" but being acceptable for students at East Elementary, expressed Delora Scaggs, a behavior interventionist at East Elementary. "If it's not OK for some kids, it's not OK for any kids," she said in reference to the overcrowding at East.
Few, if any, people at the Thursday night board meeting at Lewis and Clark Middle School voiced opposition to the district's two-high school proposal on its own merits, and many complimented the district on its plan.
"This bond levy is a necessity for the safety and education of our students," said Jennifer Carroll, president of the Lewis and Clark Middle School PTO and vice president of the citywide PTO, as well as a mother of a sixth-grade son.
"Putting trailers on Major Field is not a good option for them," she said in reference to the plan to place trailers at Simonsen 9th Grade Center in 2019 to accommodate the swelling student body if a second high school is not built by then.
In defense of the two-high schools plan, Hallie Gibbs cited doctors and other professionals who choose to live elsewhere and commute to Jefferson City because of the condition of the school system not being up to par for the standards they want for their children.
Gibbs' comment that "we need to do what we should've done 20 years ago" got widespread applause throughout the room, with a crowd of about 70 people at its height. He said students see Simonsen as a "holding tank," a negative environment that diminishes expectations, which a second high school could help alleviate.
Ashley French, a young professional who said she has been in the area for three years, said she has yet to meet someone in her age group who wants to send their children into the Jefferson City public school system. She said the other young professionals chose to live in and commute from Ashland, Columbia and Wardsville instead.
The district scheduled the meeting to be at the middle school in order to accommodate as many community voices as possible concerning the proposal.
Some of the voices they heard, however, felt too many promises have been made to the East Elementary community for too long without being met, and they want a plan to build a new school added to the high school proposal in time for the April election.
State Rep. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, said he would not oppose building a new school, and 1st Ward Jefferson City Council member Rick Prather said he supported a new high school, but both men wanted the board to consider including East Elementary in the bond issue question, should it placed on the April ballot.
Prather said it's "essential."
State Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, had remarks read through a representative at the meeting and expressed concern about overcrowding at East Elementary.
"The longer you put this off, the more it's going to cost," the Rev. W.T. Edmonson Sr., associate minister of Second Baptist Church, said. He warned not having East included in an April bond issue question would create more antagonism in the community against the new proposal.
"Let's move it all up at the same time," said Rod Chapel, president of the Jefferson City chapter of the NAACP, as well as president of the Missouri NAACP. He and Edmonson reminded the board and the audience that East is the poorest school in the district, with many of the students there coming into the classroom with economic disadvantages.
"The environment we allow (students) to work in, even with quality staff, is not the most optimal," Scaggs said of the conditions at East. She and others felt it threatened students' ability to be successful.
"Don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good," Paul Graham warned of adding too many proposals to the April ballot. He wanted to get two high schools done, then the district could turn to keep working on other "compelling problems," like overcrowding at East.
This seemed to be the attitude the board as a whole has taken for the moment. JCPS Superintendent Larry Linthacum said the district recognizes the poverty at East and all the challenges and needs that come with it, but Pioneer Trail and Callaway Hills elementary schools have trailers, too.
Linthacum said Pioneer Trail currently has the largest student body among the elementary schools in the district, with East coming in fifth. He did propose, however, adjusting some boundary lines could shrink the student population at East and take it from fifth largest to ninth.
Board member Pam Murray noted, however, while East may not have the greatest number of students, capacity limits are different in each building. She also warned a boundary line review may not be "a solution in a time of crisis" and may not provide the timely action some members of the community are seeking.
Board President John Ruth said the calls to action heard from the community in regards to East Elementary and putting it on the bond issue question with the high schools were well thought out and well intentioned, but he worried about crossing a threshold with voters of the cost for these collective projects being too high.
Spatial problems are "not just an East school problem but a districtwide problem," he said. He added everyone's struggling with class size, regardless of geography.
However, he doesn't want people to think he's opposed to investments in elementary education, based on the current proposed ballot language.
"We're going to have to decide what comes first," he reiterated of the district's needs versus what it can achieve with this coming election. He worried adding East Elementary to the ballot question would be adding another $12 or $15 million to a $130 million proposal.
The board asked district Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer Jason Hoffman what it would take to put together $15 million for a new elementary school. The best answer Hoffman could give at the moment was they would need to raise the proposed 65-cent property tax levy.
Linthacum asked the two architects present at the meeting - Cary Gampher of The Architects Alliance and Michael Kautz of ACI Boland - if $15 million was even a reasonable number.
Gampher responded that Pioneer Trail cost $11 million - 10 years ago.
"What can we really afford for this community?" board member Rich Aubochon voiced in support of Ruth.
While he admitted it's not ideal, Ken Theroff, board member and treasurer, said, "I think the plan on the table will get us (all) there the quickest."
He added the board should "signal and commit" to doing what it can about East now.
"Even so far as a resolution," board vice president Steve Bruce suggested, although he affirmed in terms of the priority of two high schools, "we as a community have kicked the can down the road so long, there's no more road left."
Also discussed at Thursday's meeting were the district's annual audit results from fiscal year 2015-16, shared by Graves and Associates CPAs - Lynn Graves and his daughter Lindsay Graves, who also works for the firm.
Essentially, nothing was out of the ordinary for the district. It spent $2.6 million more than it took in regarding revenue, mostly because of investments in capital projects, Lynn Graves said, but it came out with a $2.651 million surplus, with most of the difference covered by bonds.
He also shared the district had saved more than $3.3 million by refinancing some of its long-term debt.
One note that became a point of conversation for a while was the number of credit cards the district has open. The Graves shared there are more than 300 credit cards in use, some of them with credit limits in the tens of thousands.
JCPS is the only district of its size the firm audits, Lynn Graves said, so there wasn't much of a point of comparison that could be offered to the board at the meeting in terms of credit card usage or oversight.
The firm found no evidence of wrongdoing involved with any of those cards, which Hoffman explained are in employees' names but tied to a district account for payment. However, the board agreed the matter should be something they take under further review.
Bruce reiterated the audit is "not a game of 'gotcha,'" but about due diligence and opportunities for improvement.
The vote on a recommended architect or architects for a two-high school plan was set for the board's Jan. 9 meeting at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. Linthacum did recommend to the board a partnership with The Architects Alliance and ACI Boland.