This school year, there has been a lot of conflict on the USD 418 school bond.  People in the community vote “no” for the bond because they do not want their taxes to go up. Although this is a valid concern, people do not know how bad the conditions of the schools are.

The high school is past its date for being able to be a successful school while the middle school is past its date for being a functioning building. While this alone is a big safety concern there are lots of issues that show this.

There are gaps and cracks in the walls and ceilings and maintenance issues in the high school. There is also a lack of sporting facilities in the district. We, as  the MHS High Life Staff, believe that the bond could help fix most, if not all, of these issues. 

There are three ideas for the bond that the school board put together. Option one would consist of building a new high school at a new site. The middle school moves to the high school site and we would consolidate to three elementary schools. The total cost would be around $160,000,000 – $170,000,000. 

Option two consists of renovating and renewing the high school but keeping the building where it is at right now. They would move the middle school to Eisenhower and also add 5th graders to the middle school. Option 2 would cost around $95,000,000 – $105,000,000. 

Option three consists of modernizing and renovating the high school. They would also make the elementary schools safer by adding better secured entrances and adding cameras and more safety features. Option three is the cheapest, projecting to cost around $50,000,000. 

We believe option two is the best as long as the “renovations” being referred to are deeper than just putting a band-aid on the problems. We think it covers all of the needs of our community’s schools. It would take care of all of the maintenance issues and make all of the schools safer. We also think that the middle school moving to Eisenhower is a good use of that building.

The bond is a very important step to help our district in the future. The McPherson School Board has multiple meetings in line to decide which option they think would best benefit the community. The community should be able to vote for the bond early next year.