School bond issue to go before voters

The Libby School Board approved a resolution Monday to ask voters in a February mail ballot election for permission to issue $12 million in bonds. If passed, the funding would pay for additions and renovations to accommodate consolidating schools into two buildings and closing Asa Wood Elementary.

Ballots for the measure will be mailed to all eligible registered voters in the district on Jan. 19 and must be returned by mail or in person by Feb. 7.

The board first approved to consolidate schools – kindergarten through sixth grade at the middle school and grades 9-12 at the high school – “when the district deems necessary.”

Then, the board unanimously voted in favor of the bond issue.

“I think this just makes it official where the board is headed,” trustee Lee Disney said.

The Libby Schools Futures Team – a group consisting of trustees, administrators, teachers and community members – voted for consolidation this summer after looking over broad data and cost analyses of a number of options to address the aging Asa Wood building and declining enrollment. The information was researched and compiled by a consulting firm that took a comprehensive look at the district and its facilities.

 “It’s been a long process,” trustee Paula Darko-Hensler said. “It’s been a well-done process. We’ve involved as many people as we possibly could and we’ve done it with the best interest of the kids at heart.”

The $12 million would go toward renovations to bring the schools in compliance with building codes, as well as to carve out under-utilized spaces and make additions. The board envisions creating a separate academy for seventh- and eighth-graders at the high school, as well as a separate pod at the current middle school for kindergarten through third-graders. 

A commons area would be created at both schools that would include a library and kitchen within close proximity. The new arrangement would be highly functional for the schools, Superintendent Kirby Maki said, as well as a place that groups in the community could use.

“We’re doing things in a way to meet the needs of the different-aged kids,” Maki said, “but that can also be utilized by the community.”

Though both schools would have kitchens, only one would be equipped to cook enough meals for the whole district, Maki said. A new auxiliary gym would also be built at the high school.

With more students and a wider range of ages on each campus, traffic flow would have to be reconfigured to ensure safety, Maki said. The high school, for example, would need a designated area for parents to drop-off and pick-up their seventh- and eighth-grade children.

The district’s consulting firm has provided a rendering of how the schools could look after renovations, but the drawings are preliminary. The board agrees that plans won’t be set in stone until the bond passes, a contract is awarded and an architect prepares a blueprint.

A group of community members, spearheaded by trustees Darko-Hensler and Les Nelson, met for the first time on Tuesday to discuss ways to campaign for the measure. The group will work in the coming months on the VOTE campaign, an acronym for Value Our Town’s Education. They plan to put together a website, which they envision will feature an interactive element that allows locals to accurately calculate the dollar amount that their property taxes would increase if the bond issue passes.

Trustees identify the obstacles ahead in passing the measure, but they whole-heartedly believe it is the right thing to do.

“When push comes to shove, our gut feeling is we are pretty optimistic about this,” Nelson said. “We want to challenge people as to their values. Education has got to be valued; it’s at the core of everything. Economy – everything depends on good education.”