East school advocates swarm school board

But bond issue still will center on two high schools

Students and parents depart East Elementary School on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015.
Students and parents depart East Elementary School on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015.

The Jefferson City Public Schools' Board of Education felt the weight Monday night of decades of deferred decisions.

Dozens of community members came forward over the course of the night - out of a full house of upwards of 150-200 people at its peak - to voice frustration about various issues.

The board's public meeting - including the 5:30 p.m. presentation about the two-high school plan - lasted until approximately 10 p.m., before the board went into closed session.

There were questions from the community about the board's due diligence on its two-high school proposal and frustration over a perceived lack of transparency on the board's decision-making. But overcrowding at East Elementary School and a desire to see a solution for it on the April 4 ballot was again chief among concerns.

Former board member Jackie Coleman in particular advocated strongly for East. She told the board, "You have an opportunity to make a wrong right. This school district loses nothing by putting it on the ballot."

It seems clear at this point that will not happen.

When it came time to approve the ballot language for the bond issue question of the two-high school plan, board member Michael Couty said, "I would not be honest with myself" as a community member and a member of the criminal justice community, if the question was not amended to include East Elementary.

Fellow board member Pam Murray seconded the motion to include East.

After some tense moments and passionate speeches, ultimately that motion was defeated.

While the ballot language is not yet officially certified - and cannot be until after the deadline for school board candidates to file for election - the bond issue ballot question as approved by the JCPS board does not include language directly addressing the needs of East Elementary or any other elementary or middle school in the district.

"It's needed, but it's phase two," board President John Ruth said.

That means an evaluation of elementary and middle school needs by the board in April 2021 or 2022, according to information presented at the meeting.

While construction of a new elementary school on the east side would not happen before then, the board took seriously the need to do something to address the overcrowding immediately.

Starting with the 2017-18 school year, the board is going to make some boundary line changes to shift students away from East.

"We're not saying it's the long-term solution, but it's a step in the right direction," JCPS Superintendent Larry Linthacum said.

What this looks like in practical terms is this: the number of students at East would be reduced by 66 students, from 403 to 337.

The student population at Thorpe Gordon Elementary would increase from 289 to 346 and at Moreau Heights Elementary from 354 to 363.

Linthacum said this would lower the population of students at East who receive free and reduced price lunches, probably maintain the current number at Moreau Heights and increase it some at Thorpe Gordon.

But the objective of redrawing some boundary lines is to eliminate the classroom trailer at East as quickly as possible.

Pioneer Trail Elementary would still have trailers, and Ruth admitted Lawson Elementary will also probably soon have trailers.

Linthacum said if a second high school proposal passes in April, language for the construction on the East McCarty site of a new elementary school will be included on the next bond issue.

There will also be forthcoming public meetings over the next few weeks to present and discuss the effects of redrawing boundary lines.

Ruth said he commended community and board voices for their passion and altruism when it comes to concerns about East but said putting the issue on the ballot with the two high schools would most likely cause the vote to fail - further delaying any help for East by another six to eight years.

"I think the best thing for East school is actually not to be on this particular ballot," he said.

The board did vote unanimously to discuss the possibility of an amended ballot question, but fears that asking too much of the community in one election prompted the board to double-down and stick with its two high school plan as is.

Or, almost as is - the tax levy increase the district will be asking for has dropped from $1.20 to $1.10.

The 10-cent decrease has come out of the operating levy, which would be the second of the two votes proposed for the April election.

To be more specific, the 10-cent deduction has been made from the portion of the operating levy intended to cover needs of the existing K-12 system - rather than costs for a second high school.