Dover makes third attempt for millage proposal

Dover Middle School teachers and staff wear T-shirts in support of the upcoming special election for a millage increase for the school district. The shirts are printed with “I mustache (must ask) you to voice your support for our kids’ future on March 10.” Shown in the front row, from left, are Kay New, Karen Hill, Amanda Bryan and Principal Donny Forehand; and in the back row, Vanessa George, Rhonda Parson, Rhonda Fairfield, Kim Williams, Catherine Pittman, Christi Jones, Paula Roberts and Suzy Pennington.
Dover Middle School teachers and staff wear T-shirts in support of the upcoming special election for a millage increase for the school district. The shirts are printed with “I mustache (must ask) you to voice your support for our kids’ future on March 10.” Shown in the front row, from left, are Kay New, Karen Hill, Amanda Bryan and Principal Donny Forehand; and in the back row, Vanessa George, Rhonda Parson, Rhonda Fairfield, Kim Williams, Catherine Pittman, Christi Jones, Paula Roberts and Suzy Pennington.

DOVER — Superintendent Jerry Owens said Dover School District officials have heard patrons “loud and clear,” and he is counting on approval of a proposed millage increase in the district’s March 10 special election.

A 3.2-mill property-tax increase is on the ballot for a $10.65 million project to build a middle school complex — 26 classrooms, a safe room and a physical-education facility — and renovate 10 classrooms at the lower middle school.

It is the district’s third attempt in less than two years to get a millage-increase proposal passed for the project.

“I think we’ve got the community more involved in this one,” Owens said. “We feel much better.”

A 5.5-mill property tax increase failed in a September 2013 school election; a 3.5-mill increase was narrowly defeated in a Feb. 1, 2014, special election.

Owens said patrons voiced their opinions on aspects of the project they didn’t like, and changes were made. One major change was made before the second vote — a multipurpose athletic center was taken out of the project — but the measure still failed by 38 votes.

“It’s gone; it’s not happening. We heard our voters loud and clear on that,” Owens said of the athletic facility. “There’s no field house in this. It’s a PE facility and practice facility.”

Another change this time around is to the covered drive in the front of the building. Originally designed to look like a pirate ship to complement the school mascot, the Pirates, the drive was redesigned to save about $250,000.

“We felt like we could cut expenses there. That, again, was just in response to some of our community members who said, ‘Hey, let’s make sure we’ve just got the bare bones here — just what you need,’” Owens said.

He said the existing middle school is outdated and not functional as an educational facility. Students have to walk outside to several buildings for classes. The additional classrooms would connect to the Fine Arts Building. The construction project would enable students, “for the most part,” he said, to stay under one roof to attend classes and go to lunch and PE.

Safety is one of the main reasons parent Karla Bowden said she supports the millage proposal. Bowden is chairwoman of the Dover Millage Committee.

Her daughter Gracie, a sixth-grader, is in middle school; daughter Faith is in fourth grade and will attend the middle school next year, Bowden said.

“It’s not necessarily that it’s not nice enough — that’s not the point — there are security issues,” she said. The middle school facilities are on a hill and spread out now, she said. “The thing is, the roads basically run right through the campus. An outsider can come off the street, just drive up through the campus while the kids are changing classes.”

Bowden said an aerial view of the campus is available on the millage website, doverpiratepridemillage2015.weebly.com.

The website also contains documents relating to the construction project, including a Q and A. In a video posted on the site, teachers, students, parents and administrators talk about why the construction project is needed.

Counselor Elizabeth Nichols said that when it’s raining, a bus shuttles children to the different buildings, and valuable class time is lost when the students are boarding and unboarding the bus. Just walking from building to building eats into instruction time, too, officials said.

Fourth-grader Arlis Sprinkle said on the video that more space is needed for students.

“We need more space because we don’t have any room for computers; all the desks are just clumped together,” he said.

Principal Donny Forehand agreed. “We need adequate space, updated space for technology,” he said.

Also on the video, teacher Vanessa George mentions the small size of classrooms, as well as lack of electrical outlets, which limits technology use.

In addition, Bowden said, facilities are out of compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

“There are a lot of ADA compliances that have changed over the years,” Bowden said. The amount of money to make the middle school ADA compliant would be cost-prohibitive, she said.

The Dover School District has another chance to use $4.44 million in a state partnership grant, which has been extended after both failed elections. The district was supposed to use the money by November 2014 or lose it, Owens said.

The state granted an extension — a second one, but Owens said this is likely the last time the state will do that.

“The likelihood of them granting us another extension is just about zero,” he said.

“I don’t know of any other school that’s got to go for the third millage,” Owens said. “More than likely, we would lose those funds. If we can’t come up with our matching funds, they’re not going to give us their funds. If we’re not able to pass a millage, there’s no way we can come up with our matching funds.”

Bowden said it’s vital for the district to get state funding for the project.

“Honestly, if it doesn’t pass, the burden’s probably going to go back on the school,” she said.

“We’re trying to be positive,” she said. However, “having to take out loans and cut existing programs — that may become a reality because [the state is] not going to hold the money anymore. We have to do something now.”

The 3.2-mill increase would generate $6.2 million for the district, Owens said. Based on owning a $150,000 home, the property-tax increase would cost voters an additional $96 a year.

Another concern that residents expressed in the past elections, Owens said, has been the fate of the Works Progress Administration gymnasium. It is sentimental to many residents, Owens said.

Some updates in the electrical panel have been made, Owens said, “but you’ve still got some of the original wire in there. It’s not prudent to use district money to maintain this building. It would take $1 million [to renovate] and, even then, the old gym would not have the required floor space to meet today’s regulations.”

In an earlier interview, Owens said state officials have said the present gym is “inadequate not because of lack of maintenance or upkeep by the district. It’s a 76-year-old building with 76-year-old pipes, 76-year-old wiring, a 76-year-old foundation.”

“We have a community committee that has gotten together and is working on preserving some memories, some memorabilia, maybe saving parts of the floor. The first class was 1939, and for the next 10 or 15 years or so, the classes signed their names in the concrete. We are totally committed to preserving them, and we’re going to move them to the new gym.” Names also are written in concrete at the middle school, the former high school, he said. “The board is committed to saving them,” Owens said.

“Once we got the community members involved, and they did some research, … they came back and realized there was just no feasible way we could update the old gym. The dressing rooms in the old gym already are “nailed shut,” Owens said.

“The state will not let us keep it and the new facility,” Owens said, because of the cost of maintenance. He said Chuck Stein, director of the state Department of Education’s Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, gave him an analogy. Stein said, “We’re not going to buy you a new car and let you keep your old car” because of the cost of maintenance.

“We all love it,” Owens said. “It has great sentimental value, and we all appreciate the history of it, but in order to bring that thing up to meet current state standards, [it] is just not financially feasible.”

Bowden said she and other committee members, as well as school officials, have tried to disseminate accurate information.

“We’ve encouraged people to talk to us about their concerns and [talk to] the school board,” Bowden said. “We are really trying to get the truthful information out there.”

Owens is optimistic about this third attempt.

“I’ve had lots of community members tell me they’re going to get involved in this one because they don’t want to lose the $4.44 million in state funds, and they know it’s a matter of time before this old gym and middle school need something done,” Owens said. “I’m seeing some folks out there almost desperate: ‘We’ve got to get this done this time.’ We didn’t have that before.”

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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