The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - The Dayton School District is struggling to engage citizens in a discussion of the $19.5 mil- lion bond levy measure the district is considering for the April 2014 ballot.

Last Thursday was the second of three public fo- rums planned on the topic of the proposed facilities up- grade, but just nine citizens attended (more than half in attendance were employees of the district, sit on the school board, or are members of the committee that worked on the project plan).

Though few voices were heard, Superintendent Doug Johnson and project architect Greg McCracken stated afterward that the forum was "productive."

The most critical issue raised was the need to reach more citizens with the right kind of information. Only a small number of citizens attended the first forum pre- sented earlier this month.

Ideas such as posting project details online, recording a You Tube video of Johnson or McCracken ex- plaining the project, mailing out flyers, or doing a citizen survey were discussed with enthusiasm.

Dayton resident Skip Mead told the gathering Thursday he had come to the meeting with serious concerns about the proposed $24.2 million comprehensive school renovation proj- ect.

"Now I'm feeling much better about it," he told at- tendees after many of his questions were answered. "You need to find a way to let people know how you got to that number."

Johnson explained that while the committee had discussed spreading out the project over many years as well as just doing key parts of the project, they chose the currently proposed plan ($2.70 per $1000 valua- tion on property tax with a project due date of 2017) because it saved money by tapping into currently low construction prices and interest rates.

It also shortens the project timeline, making construction less obtrusive and problematic, he said.

And why such a compre- hensive project? Why not one smaller piece at a time? Because one thing leads to another which leads to another, Johnson said. "Every time we look at a serious need for one of our build- ings, it connects to something else."

For example, to address new requirements of spe- cial education, the district is looking at moving those classrooms into the high school. That means ad- ditional classroom space is needed. The auditorium is 4300 square feet of space. But to take that space for classrooms opens a need for a new auditorium.

Or look at student safety and security, Johnson said. Or mechanical problems in each building. "We know it's expensive," he said. "But we haven't done any major, comprehensive repairs to these buildings for 30 years."

A third and final pub- lic forum is planned for Wednesday, January 15, in the high school auditorium.