The Becker School board held a special meeting last Wednesday in order to review the results of the survey sent out to the community via School Perceptions. There was a high participation rate from the community, with 34% of residents responding. The results showed general support for the projects being proposed by the school.

Communications

The survey asked residents how they liked to receive communications from the school district. Students’ parents reported that they generally preferred to receive communications via email or by snail mail, while other community members liked receiving communications by snail mail or from the Patriot. 

Projects

Several infrastructure-type projects were highlighted in the survey. Altogether, these projects would cost $37.5 million to implement. Some of these proposed projects would be to modify and improve areas around the schools, such as classrooms, kitchens, cafeterias, libraries, and technical study labs. Other projects would include increasing school safety and security; updating HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems; adding artificial turf to one of the athletic fields; and replacing the bus/transportation facility.

With the exception of the artificial turf project, all the proposed projects received high support, with 70% or more of respondents showing support. The artificial turf project had just under a 50% support rate. Of course, the survey respondents consisted mostly of parents in the school district, who were more likely to support such a project. The amount of support from the general community could be much lower than that.

Implementing the Projects

The survey results found that there was generally high support for the projects, so long as the residents’ taxes did not increase because of it. The board believed they could make that work, by taking out debt for the project and paying it off over time.

Board member Lori Molus noted that the last time the district took out a bond, they were able to do so in a way that the residents’ taxes did not increase.

The community will be given the opportunity to vote on these projects early in 2021. The district may be able to start on the projects as early as next spring.

More information will be provided via the Patriot as it becomes available.