School board acts on task force recommendation

By Chuck Kajer

The New Prague Area School Board wasted little time in acting on a task force recommendation, voting Monday to hold a school bond election on Tuesday, Dec. 14.

The task force recommended a two-part question be placed on the ballot. The first question would call for building two elementary schools, one in New Market and one in New Prague, and to renovate facilities at the current intermediate school. The second question, which is contingent on the first question passing, would ask voters for a third elementary school, to be built in Lonsdale, and an addition to the high school. The task force also recommended that the school board look into the possibility of a swimming pool being built at the high school as part of the election, either as part of question 2 or as a third, separate question.

If approved, plans are for the new buildings to be ready for students in the fall of 2006.

In the end, the task force chose between two options, the two-question plan and the same question that was turned down by voters in May. That option called for $46.6 million to build three elementary schools - in New Prague, New Market and Lonsdale - and to convert the intermediate school for use as a special education, community education and administrative services facility. The vote totals were 1,893 against and 1,498 for. As a result, the school board commissioned a telephone survey and organized a task force to look at other options.

Task force

At Thursday's task force meeting, the group took a step back from its previous meeting, where it had narrowed a list of 22 choices, first to six and then to three.

We discovered a flaw in the process