Bond project, long-range plan heavily discussed during school board work session

The St. Joseph School District Board of Education reconvened for its first work session of the new year on Monday, Jan. 13.

The big ticket items that were up for discussion, were the bond project and the long-range plan.

In terms of the bond project, Dr. Robert Sigrist, an assistant superintendent at SJSD, reported most of every item associated with the bond project is on track.

However, there were large discussions had in relation to the long-range plan.

A rendering of one of the two new high schools to be built within the long-range plan was shown by the DLR Group- an integrated design firm with a core practice in architecture, engineering, interiors, and planning.

With the construction of a new high school on a budget of $150 million, investments into different extracurricular programs were questioned.

“I think that the good thing is, is that it was all laid out in a manner that’s easy to understand...” said Board President, LaTonya Williams. “If you want a little bit extra, it’s going to cost...”

Tax models were also shown during the meeting, computed in different scenarios.

A 42, 60 and 75 cent increase of taxes showed different cost effective strategies for constructing the new schools.

“As a person mentioned in the meeting, you ‘go big or go home,’ said Williams. “Only on the other hand, you don’t want to go too big and put off the taxpayers. If we’re able to go in the middle, we’re still able to get the new school and then also prepare for the other new school, because I want everybody to understand- it’s not only one school, it’s a package deal.”

When it comes to taking the next steps within the district’s long-range plan, Williams is excited to be able to make it this far in the planning process.

“I’m just really, really excited and I want everybody to get as excited as we are,” said Williams. “As we’re mentioning in the meeting, it’s (constructing new schools) not been accomplished ever since- before all of our time. We’ve never come so far before...And this is our time to do this.”

The BOE will meet for its first meeting of 2025 on Monday, Jan. 27.