Middle School remains top priority as district examines options
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
Residents of the Burlington Area School District made it clear Tuesday night that they wanted a different plan to be offered by the district for its aging facilities.
All three referendum questions – one for a $68.3 million new middle school, plus referendum questions for new athletic and performing arts spaces – failed to pass, mostly by a large margin.
The closest vote was whether to fund a new middle school, though even that wasn’t particularly close. There were 3,473 no votes compared to 2,181 yes votes for the $68.3 million referendum question.
For question No. 2, regarding spending $11.7 million to expand athletic space, the gap was much larger, 5,499 no votes to just 1,497 yes votes.
Results were similar for question No. 3, which asked for $14.4 million to build a new performing arts center. There were 4,065 no votes, and just 1,616 yes votes.
BASD Superintendent Peter Smet said the facilities study – which included population studies, an in-depth study of district buildings and several community forums – brought the needs for all three questions to light as members of the community spoke out.
“They made their concerns very clear, and the board agree with that,” he said.
However, while the district had spent most of the last three years working its way through both the facilities study and a community strategic goals planning process, the majority of the education on the three referendum questions came after they were decided on in January.
“I think the education process works both ways,” said BASD School Board President Jim Bousman. “Obviously, from the numbers that came out, people have made up their minds.”
And he said he believed the public made a decision based on correct, proper information.
“I think people basically made their choices for their own reasons,” Bousman said.
What comes next? Both Smet and Bousman said the process identified that the needs at Karcher are at the top of the priority list.
“We have some decisions to make,” Smet said, with Bousman adding that there are numerous other options identified within the study.
Among those options could be spending between $40-45 million to renovate and rebuild the current Karcher Middle School. The heart of the school, though, dates back to 1924, and while repairs are possible, there is a great deal of infrastructure that will need to be addressed.
There are also five separate building projects within that school, from the original Burlington High School construction in 1924 to the last addition in 1986.
Another options would be just performing all the maintenance needed on the various buildings, which has a price tag of between $11 and $15 million.
“We certainly have a lot of options we have looked at,” Bousman said. “Moving forward, we’re going to have to review our options.”
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