Voters To Decide On Salmon School Bond For Sixth Time

There are school districts in Idaho that routinely pass bond elections and agree to raise taxes to help school budgets. Then there’s the Salmon School District.

For the sixth year in a row, the school district is going to try to pass a bond that would build a new K-8th grade school. It’s an issue in Salmon that has the town divided.

The Salmon Middle School used to be the high school. It was constructed 75 years ago by Work Projects Administration workers during the Depression. The old building has seen a lot of students come and go. Some people in the school district think it’s time to see the old school go.

“The problem is, we have an old school,” said Principal Shawn Hendrickson. “It was started in 1936, and we’re still trying to live in it. We live in an era where technology and new updates are a must, and we’re behind the times because of our structure itself. “

Bond elections have failed the last five years in a row. This year a citizen’s committee said it really studied all the alternatives available, and it feels remodeling and repairs just won’t work anymore. The committee wants a new school.

The cost of repairing is expensive in the long run, said Lisa Corn, mother of 10. ?We had an estimate of $7 million just to do the Pioneer Elementary. I feel like why keep putting all this money into an old building when you could just build a new building and maintain it properly? It’ll last us years and years. It just seems like we’re pouring money into a money pit.”

“I think the basic structure of the building is good,? middle school teacher Russ Chinske said. ?It’s just that down the road as things break down, it’s going to be extremely expensive to fix this building and when you accumulate all those costs, it’s worth it to build a new school.”

The maintenance engineer, Ken Armstrong, pointed out the chipping of the parapet on top of the school.

“See the parapets up there on top?? Armstrong said. ?We had lots of chunks that started falling off the building. They weren’t great big, but big enough if they were to hit a kid, he’d have a bump on the head.”

But former contractors that have toured the school say the structure is stable, and it is not dangerous for the children inside.

“Yes, it’s damaged,” says Dan Fadness. “The wall is 8 inches thick. It’s not going to collapse this week or this year or this decade. “

He agreed it’s ugly, but added, “That’s just maintenance. Wax the floors, paint the walls and you could go in with a repair if you’re really worried about it. “

Lloyd Jones agreed. “The facts are facts. The building hasn’t been maintained. It doesn’t matter what administration is here. Are the new buildings going to be maintained poorly like these? Is that what we can expect in the next 30 years?”

Both contractors said they plan to vote no in the March 13 bond election.

The principal said he understands.

“We’re coming into hard economic times, and the burden and the costs they would have to fork out for a new school are a tough thing to stomach,? Hendrickson said. ?But that doesn’t take away from the fact we need a school. We have an old school.”

Several bond supporters said if the bond doesn’t pass this year, they’ll simply try again next year.

“We need to come together as a community and make this thing go,” said teacher Russ Chinske. “It’s just time. If people don’t like the idea, we need to come up with other solutions. It’s a genuine problem that isn’t going to go away. “

For more information on the bond, go to http://www.salmonschoolbond.com.