North Side Leads Plan for Evsc
By JOHN MARTIN, Courier & Press staff writer 464-7594 or martinj@courierpress.com
Supporters of Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. plans to build and renovate several schools began a twofold mission Wednesday.
First, they circulated petitions for a Nov. 4 referendum on the $149 million bond issue. It would fund most of the EVSC’s proposals.
Placing the question on the ballot requires 100 signatures by property owners or registered voters. The question must be certified by Aug. 1.
Second, they signed up new members of Citizens Supporting Schools, a community group that will campaign for the referendum’s passage.
Organizers gathered Wednesday morning at McCutchanville Community Park. The event was promoted through e-mails, blogs and phone calls, said Lisa Boyle of Citizens Supporting Schools.
Similar events were planned at the Four Freedoms Monument and Wesselman and Howell parks.
Boyle said the McCutchanville gathering by itself might have generated the 100 signatures needed for a referendum.
“There’s been a steady stream of people.”
North High School students were involved in spreading the word about Wednesday’s activities, said Principal Brenda Weber, who was at McCutchanville park.
The EVSC’s plans call for a new North Side high school and middle school. The current North High School building, which is to become a middle school, is overcrowded and has nowhere to grow, officials say.
North students “know these limitations,” Weber said. “They’re very much in favor of a larger school with no ‘learning cottages.’” That’s how EVSC officials jokingly refer to portable classrooms.
Other changes planned for the North attendance district include shifting some students from Scott Elementary School, which now has about 1,100 K-5 pupils, to Oak Hill, a current middle school that would become K-5.
Several Scott parents signed petitions Wednesday.
The EVSC also plans major renovations at four aging schools which are to become K-8, additions at Highland and Stockwell elementary schools and Plaza Park Middle School, three preschool programs and a technology influx.
The bond issue is to fund most of the EVSC’s strategic plan. A few items, such as renovations at the existing North High School, are to be funded from the school system’s capital projects budget.
The School Board recently voted to modify its old capital projects list to reflect the plan, but Superintendent Vincent Bertram told the board Monday that the Vanderburgh County Taxpayers Association filed a petition opposing that move.
Bertram said a hearing will be scheduled by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.
The taxpayers association, which has been the plan’s most vocal opponent, has opposed its approach to relieving overcrowding in schools.
(c) 2008 Evansville Courier & Press. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.