Fremont-Mills will ask voters for $3.6 bond issue on Sept. 8

On Sept. 8, Fremont-Mills Community School District voters will head to the voting booths to decide the fate of a $3.6 million bond the district plans to use for a new early childhood center, an auditorium and an additional parking.

The project came out of discussions between the board and the School Improvement Advisory Committee.

“They brought back a plan to create a facilities committee to study the district’s needs and prioritize what those needs were,” said Fremont-Mills Superintendent Chris Herrick. “They came up with the early childhood center, more classroom space, parking and a large group, fine arts auditorium.”

Fremont-Mills built it’s original K-12 building in 1969, added additions in 1981 and 2004 and worked with the community to add the Lied Gymnasium in 2010.

“Now, we’re looking to the future again. There’s no secret that this district is looking to the future to see what we can offer kids,” Herrick said.

The current proposal includes construction of an early childhood (preschool) center with additional classroom space in the PK-12 building, a 200 to 300 seat auditorium and a reconfiguration of the parking and athletic fields around the Lied Gymnasium.

The district plans to pay for the $3.6 million project with existing revenue financed through its Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) dollars it receives through a one-cent sales tax levy. Along with that pool of money, the district will use its Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) and its debt service levy to cover additional costs. Those same funds have already gone into projects this summer renovating hallways, locker rooms and the football bleachers.

“We’re planning to use the existing funds we have,”  Herrick said. “The goal of this committee has always been to pay for this with sales tax money and to have a zero tax increase.”

The three proposed projects are all important for the long-term viability of the school, which currently has an enrollment of 468 but is expecting growth with the opening of the Highway 34 Bridge last year. Among the highest of priorities, according to Herrick, is the early childhood center.

Currently, the district offers pre-kindergarten programs for 3 and 4-year olds in three classrooms, forcing the school to push fifth and sixth grade classes to the high school wing of the building. The district currently has more than 70 children enrolled in its pre-k program.

An addition to the north side of building dedicated to early childhood development would allow the district to free up classroom space and maintain separate primary and secondary wings in the school.

“The community has a huge need for a before and after school program like Kid’s Care in Omaha and Kid’s Place in Glenwood,” Herrick said. “With this project we’d add two class rooms and space to handle before and after school care. It would be right off our playground area.”

The childhood center addition will also include expansion space to add an infant and toddler program to accommodate future growth down the road.

The re-configuring of the parking lot closer to the entrance to the Lied Gymnasium, which was added in 2010, means expanding the current elementary playground area along the east with the softball field moving further to the southeast. The project also leaves open the possibility of re-locating the baseball field from its current location at the Tabor City Park to the high school property down the road, Herrick said.

“I don’t know that we gain that many parking spots, mostly we’re restructuring what we do have for parking to make the gym more accessible for our older fans,” he said.

The district had the option of pursuing the bond issue without voter approval but the committee chose to circulate a petition in July to garner support for the project. Nearly 200 signed the petition to put the referendum on the September ballot.

“The board and the committee felt strongly this is a big project and we want the community behind it,” Herrick said. “We don’t want to go and build this without taking the idea to the community.”

Herrick credits the committee for driving the project with an active public relations campaign to get the word out of the project, the financing and the long term impact via public meetings and social media.

“We have a very active facilities committee,” Herrick said. “They’ve really taken the lead on this. This hasn’t been me or the board taking the lead. This is the facilities committee working with together. They’re the ones who went out with the petition and got to an election.”

If approved by voters Sept. 8, work on the projects could begin next spring. Construction is expected to run 18 months with a Fall 2017 opening tentatively planned.

The district is hosting public meetings to address the referendum Aug. 27 and Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. in the high school multi-purpose room. The meetings will include a formal presentation in addition to a question and answer session.