WILLOW WOOD – Walk through Symmes Valley High School and the need for the levy extension becomes obvious, student Beth Freeman said.

Tuesday, October 10, 2000

WILLOW WOOD – Walk through Symmes Valley High School and the need for the levy extension becomes obvious, student Beth Freeman said.

"We have the greatest teachers here but many don’t have their own desk, filing cabinets, their own classrooms," she said. "The cafeteria won’t even hold everyone at the same time, which is especially bad when its cold."

Cold weather means students crowd the lunchroom or hallway.

Miss Freeman will urge her family to vote in favor of the district’s 1/2 mill maintenance levy extension on the Nov. 7 ballot.

Approving the levy means guaranteeing the state’s promised $3.8 million in renovation funds, levy committee chairman Dick Adcock told about 40 people gathered at the high school gym Monday night.

"Our share is $83,000," Adcock said. "We have the $83,000. What we need is the voters to pass the maintenance extension."

The district’s current levy, including an existing 1/2 mill for maintenance, runs out in 2013. The state is willing to give the district $3.8 million but only if it has the "insurance" of levy money to maintain that construction work, which is where the levy extension comes in, he said.

If voters approve the levy, it will generate $140,000 over 10 years, beginning in 2013. The plumbing alone would cost $180,000, Adcock said.

Why not pass the maintenance levy and let the state come up with the cost of the renovations, he said.

Other people at Monday’s town meeting, including the district’s architect, told why the levy will give the district an advantage.

Besides touching up the almost 40-year-old school, the state funds will provide more technology at students’ fingertips, including an expanded library with multi-media labs and an advanced industrial arts shop where students can learn robotics, lasers and other high-end skills many high schools are offering today, architect Mark Tanner said.

Although plans are not written in stone, they do include plumbing and wiring replacement, eight new classrooms, and an expanded cafeteria, he said.

Technology has changed in the 10 years that the multi-level has been around, so state school officials also have agreed to fund $250,000 in improvements there.

"If it passes in November, by this time next year, we look to be under construction," Tanner said, adding that he will seek input on specific designs from the school and community before beginning.

Levy committee treasurer Jennifer Leach said the children of Symmes Valley deserve the voters’ support.

They will gain a library where they can view the latest research, use the latest library tools and prepare themselves for education beyond their senior year, instead of trying to catch up when they get there, she said.

"I can’t understand why anybody would think this is bad," said parent Debbie Carpenter. The tax will be $10.75 a year for an $80,000 home, for example, and that gets the school $3.8 million in return, she said.

The Symmes Valley area is a great community, with a new doctor’s office, ambulance station, a restaurant and more, Adcock said.

"We could have an even greater school with a few more dollars."

Levy supporter and former school board member Albert Childers, who has already hit the campaign trail, said there is some concern from voters about passing a tax that will affect people so far into the future.

"I tell them it’s for the kids, and down the road it will cost more,"

Childers said.

It’s paying a minimal amount to get millions in return, and whoever pays the students win in the end, he said.

The committee plans another meeting Oct. 17 in the high school library.