I?Äôm writing as a member of the Kimball school district. In December I participated in a meeting discussing the bonding issue. After the meeting, Mr. Wagner walked several of us through the areas of concern. It is obvious these areas need upgrading and have needed attention for quite some time.
Mr. Wagner discussed the problem of declining enrollment and the efforts to turn enrollment around. It is critical to keep enrollment above 700 students; every additional student provides $5,900 of state funds.
Kimball Area High School is Kimball?Äôs largest employer. The public needs to pay attention to and make sure the school continues to update where necessary. The Kimball schools have been doing a good job of updating since the 1970s. Open enrollment creates additional concerns. We are in competition with all other schools in our areas.
Many of our local towns and businesses are in expansion mode. More families will be seeking homes and schools for their children. Kimball schools must be competitive and attract these families to our facilities.
Kimball school district voted for our school board members and hired Mr. Wagner to turn enrollment around and find a solution to update our school. Together they spent many hours and conducted many visits with other schools and professionals to address the building?Äôs problem areas. Financial representatives, designers and all other needed professionals were contacted to prepare a solution to the problem areas.
Informational meetings were held and advertised. These meetings were poorly attended until the very end when voting took place. My question is: Where were these people that were so upset at voting time? Why didn?Äôt they have some representation at the planning meetings? Why would they let Mr. Wagner and the school board go through this large effort and then shut it down?
I have been on many boards and committees in my dairy career, and have never seen a board as micromanaged as this. Again, the public elected the school board and it is our duty to support them. Vote Yes! on Feb. 5.
Thank you,
Tom Gregory