11/01/2018
Warrenton-Hammond Kids: Yes to Solid Returns on Short and Long Term Investments
Asking a sacrifice of taxpayers to invest in present and future generations of Warrenton-Hammond kids is not a decision made lightly. Several years of thoughtful analysis, weighing options, and researching contingencies, led to the design of the Warrenton-Hammond School Bond proposal. Underlying this decision is the fundamental goal of doing what is prudent in the most affordable way possible for our community.
We started by watching Warrenton’s population grow and anticipate the impact of significant future housing developments currently in process. The reality of this growth is perhaps most evident every school morning when the intense mad-house of cars, busses, and PreK – 8th grade students inundate the neighborhoods around the school. Portable classrooms that hungrily devour more playground space each year are just a Band-Aid fraught with security challenges.
Growth will continue to impact the grade school and will soon envelope the High School, so we first considered our options to expand our existing facilities. With limited build-able space and Tsunami zone building restrictions, it became apparent that if we are to invest in building more space, it is best to build on separate land outside of the Tsunami zone. Since all of our schools are located within the less probable, yet extreme, local event Tsunami zones, and considering the high efficiency of schools sharing resources and space, the hope for a master PreK-12 campus was born.
Even with bond-matching funds from the State, we quickly learned a master campus was too expensive to do all at once. A group of community members ranging from parents, to grandparents, to teachers, to business leaders, to local government representatives helped determine a reasonable solution: a new middle school will kick-off a three phase plan the community can support over time. Slow, steady, and sustainable wins this race. A middle school will ease the pressure on the grade school without breaking the academic continuity between the elementary grade levels, yet it is small enough, with the land, to still be the lowest cost-per-thousand school bond in the county.
Knowing the full PreK-12 Master Campus plan will take more than a decade to fulfill, we continue to maintain our existing buildings and setup a generously donated Career and Technical Education building. The good news is existing facilities have been maintained well-enough that necessary maintenance will not require extreme costs. This same sense of responsible stewardship is a key attitude in our approach to this Bond and the investments it will produce.
Finally, the schools and modulars were not designed with modern security needs in mind. To increase student safety, security infrastructures will be improved at all schools.
The sacrifice spread between all present and future community members will yield a proud legacy that spans generations! A long time to prepare, an even longer harvest of dividends, but only a short window to vote ‘YES!’ for Warrenton-Hammond Kids before November 4th!
Dalan Moss
