Boyceville School district conducts walk through meeting about proposed referendum
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DISTRICT residents toured the Boyceville Middle/High School last Thursday to learn about the proposed $18 million referendum which will be on the April 2 ballot. —photo by Renee Bettendorf
By Renee Bettendorf
BOYCEVILLE-About 20 people attended a Community Information and Walkthrough Meeting about the $18 million proposed Boyceville School District referendum on Thursday evening at the high school. District residents will be voting on the referendum at the upcoming April 2 election.
If district voters vote in favor of the referendum, the funds would go towards a district-wide school facility improvement project which would include maintenance, upgrades and remodeling to the elementary and middle/high schools as well as the bus garage.
The meeting opened with a 45 minute tour of the middle/high school led by District Administrator, Nick Kaiser and Luke Schultz, Associate Director of Facilities Management Services for CESA 10.
The first stop on the tour was the middle/high school office entrance. Kaiser pointed out that the entrance could be made more secure with some remodeling. Other entrances in the district would also be remodeled for security purposes including the main entrance at TCE and the district office entrance.
The tour moved on to the high school gym where the lighting, outlets and basketball hoop motors need replacement. Other athletic facility items on the referendum list include: new scoreboards, updates to the stage, curtain and lighting in the gymatorium; a new roof for the wrestling room; track resurfacing, bleacher upgrades and new lights at the football field.
Next, the tour headed into the career/technical education area which is one of the oldest parts of the building.
“It looks exactly the same as it did in 1968,” said one tour participant.
Kaiser said if the referendum passes, an observation window would be installed in the classroom so the teacher can see the shop area. They also would add a door to connect the shop areas and update the ventilation. Schultz pointed out that the windows in the shop area are all single pane and would be replaced.
The oldest part of the school is the 1961 addition which houses the science area. Kaiser said this part of the building would see “lots of general updating”. Those updates would include: flooring, windows, roofing and ventilation.
The tour also took a look at: the HVAC system, where one boiler would be replaced; an elevator that needs repairs; areas on the exterior of the building where bricks need tuck pointing; and cement sidewalk repair.
After the tour, Kaiser held a presentation in the high school commons where he went over all the areas that would be addressed in the proposed referendum and commonly asked questions about it.
He said that one question he’s been asked often is: what if the referendum fails?. He pointed out that since things like boilers don’t get younger, the district would most likely come back in November with another referendum proposal.
“If the referendum fails, it would not change the need,” said Kaiser.
Another question that is on voters’ minds is how many students are in the district. Kaiser answered by saying that five years ago the average class had 52 students and now the average is about 50. But he also said the district currently has a class with 65 as well as one with 38.
Brian Brewer, who is employed by the financial planning firm Baird, and has worked with the district for several years, was also at the presentation. He talked about how the referendum would impact the district’s finances.
He said that the last major investment in the district happened with the passage of the 2008 referendum. Because the district is at the end of those debt payments, if a new referendum passes it would be financed by reallocating the 2008 debt payments to the new referendum.
If the referendum passes, Brewer said the district would have another 20 years of debt payment at about a four percent interest rate.
Another Community Information and Walkthrough Meeting is scheduled for March 19 at TCE.
