Bond issue includes intercom upgrades
By Marcus Clem
A lot of hay has been made about new turf on school grounds within a possible $20 million issuance of debt, yet Proposition St. Joseph School District contains other investments, such as in communications.
Voters will approve or reject the measure on April 2, with “yes” votes required to be more than 57.143% of total ballots cast for it to pass. About $2 million of Proposition SJSD would be used to install new intercoms across the district. Specifics about the project would be defined as part of an open bid process following potential passage, but in general, point-to-point conversations are not well supported by existing hardware. The central office can dial a teacher’s desk phone and vice versa, but the ability of a classroom to broadcast a message across the campus is either limited or nonexistent, depending on the building.
The St. Joseph Police Department has no part in the bond campaign and is not directly involved in the intercom system’s planning, but the supervisor of school resource officers spoke to the utility of such a system.
“We need one part of the school or one room of the school to communicate schoolwide to other staff if there’s an issue, an emergency, say a fire or an intruder or something along those lines,” Sgt. Todd Derr said. “Communications for most of the schools go through the front office, their public announcement system; the SROs respond to calls and reported problems on that basis.”
Board President LaTonya Williams said that the intercom upgrade idea originates with a student group, who brought up the issue after a recent emergency drill was, Williams said, not communicated to every classroom.
“And the kids are worried about their safety, and so I think that this is a good extra layer of protection,” Williams said.
Williams, who is running for reelection April 2, was one of six board members to vote in favor of putting the bond on the ballot. Kenneth Reeder, who is also running for reelection, voted no, citing concerns about a longer-term tax burden the bond represents. Somewhat complicated math is involved there. If passed, the district will be able to work with its financial adviser, L.J. Hart & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, to encourage private investors in providing $20 million. Thereafter, the district will use its current $4.32/$100 levy to pay them back at a given rate of interest.
The district currently has more than $80 million of borrowing authority, but it will lose about half of it if no new bond is passed on either April 2 or a potential Aug. 6 second attempt. That’s because state law requires the debt service levy to be reduced only to the level required to pay for current debt. This would save taxpayers money by placing the levy at $4.05/$100, a potential 6.25% decrease in property taxes for many residents.
