We would like to give the Marysville School District something to think about as it tries to pass bonds in a special election April 26 to build five new schools and fix up all of the others.
It is too early to endorse voting for the project, although we likely will. Community discussions need to take place first.
But the schools are old — really old. Remember John F. Kennedy? Many of you probably don’t. But he was president when some of the schools were built.
It will only get more expensive if construction is delayed. It makes sense to build now.
If you are having trouble thinking if you can afford it, just think about gas prices. We are paying about half of what we were a year or so ago. Many people are easily saving $50 or more a month. Just with those savings we can all afford $1 a day for schools. If you have a $300,000 home, the bonds would cost you about a dollar a day. Many homeowners in town will pay less than that.
But one thing we would like the district to do is to plan ahead to keep up with maintenance on these new buildings. Make sure they are made of materials that can be painted every 10 years so they still look nice for the kids and community. Make sure that if some roofing material or siding comes off that it is replaced.
We heard from residents throughout the planning period for new schools that the old schools were not kept up as well as they could have been.
Sure, they lasted a really long time. But with some regularly scheduled maintenance they could have lasted even longer.
On a tour of the schools we saw multiple pieces of siding that had come off and not been replaced. That probably has led to interior damage to the rafters from rain water. Other siding was in the process of coming off, no longer attached to the frame of the building. That looks like a safety issue, too.
We saw a bucket in one classroom to catch water from a leaky roof. Patch the roof.
We saw a room divider that was tattered and didn’t even close all the way. Replace it.
Just like a homeowner who wants to keep their house looking nice so they can be proud, so should the school district provide maintenance so we can be proud of our schools.
In fact, with all of the schools that are not being replaced, we would like to see them all receive a new coat of paint and other fixes to make sure their lives can be extended. If these bonds pass, and we hope they do, it could be another 20 years before the community might be able to afford another measure. So let’s make sure this other schools are maintained so they will look good until then.
On another note, many people have said they would love to volunteer to help keep the schools looking good. We would like to see the district look into that. We are not sure about union labor contracts and the like, but we do know people want to help.
