Officials discuss Sikeston R-6 school bond issue

SIKESTON — A proposed school bond issue for the Sikeston R-6 school district that will be on April’s ballot was presented at the Sikeston Regional Chamber luncheon Thursday afternoon.

Katie Merideth and Cooper McKelvey, co-chairs of Better Schools for Better Communities, and R-6 Superintendent Dr. Tony Robinson spoke to Chamber members, explaining the bond issue.

The $21.6-million project, of which $3 million will be contributed by the schools, would cost taxpayers $18.6 million.

Under the proposed plan, the current Lee Hunter Elementary would be razed for $500,000 and a new school would be rebuilt on the same site for a cost of $13.4 million. The current Matthews Elementary would be razed in 2021, after it would house Lee Hunter students for the 2020-2021 school year.

The current Lee Hunter Elementary was built in 1954 and Merideth said a new building would address safety and security concerns as well as basic building needs and technology upgrades.

“Most homes didn’t even have televisions in them in 1954,” Merideth said.

Also as part of the plan, a new C Building at the Sikeston High School would be built for a cost of $6.6 million. The building would be located between the current Math and Science building and A building.

Also, a safe space would be built at the Kindergarten Center of which Sikeston R-6 would contribute 25% of the cost ($400,000) while a potential SEMA/FEMA grant would cover 75% of the cost. This is not part of the bond.

McKelvey explained the cost of the bond, which will increase the school tax 11%. He explained how to take the school tax that is shown on a personal property tax statement and multiply that number by 1.11.

“It will only increase the R-6 line,” McKelvey said, while also adding that residents can also use a calculator that is located on the Better Schools for Better Community website at www.schools4sikeston.com.

McKelvey also explained the increase in the school tax levy would put them on par with other local schools districts.

“Cape just passed $14 million for capital improvements alone,” McKelvey said. “We are going to be getting two new buildings.”

Robinson explained that a big part of the bond issue is about retention, recruitment and reassurance.

“We want to retain high quality staff. We want to retain our families and businesses within our community. And we want to be able to recruit the best and the brightest. We want to be able to recruit families, and we want to reassure them that they have their students in a high quality school district providing a great education,” Robinson said.

He added that the current staff has done “an incredible job” in the current facilities. “But we would love to remove this barrier from them so they can do even greater things,” Robinson said.

If the bond passes, Robinson said the facilities will be taken care of by partnering with a firm that will do a 3-, 5-, 10-year facilities plan for maintenance, infrastructure, renovation, so the facilities will be kept in great shape and the district will have them for a long time.

“The other piece is we have made a commitment to really push our educational offerings and experiences for our students,” Robinson said.

He said the district is going to provide comprehensive reading support for all students, while also expanding projects like pre-engineering, computer science, bio med and computer science. He added they also are going to try and expand their advanced placement courses while also extending and strengthening our partnerships with the community.

“We are going to expand these offerings and push people,” Robinson said, adding it may make some parents uncomfortable. “We are going to really be challenging kids and providing them with some rigorous and challenging learning experiences but it is going to make them great.”

A town hall is scheduled for Tuesday at Lee Hunter where tours of the school will be given at 5:30 p.m. and a panel discussion will begin at 6 p.m. The bond proposal will be on the April 7 ballot with 57% needed to approve the measure.

Steve McPheeters with First Midwest Bank also spoke at Thursday’s luncheon. First Midwest, who sponsored the luncheon, recently opened a new location in the former MRV Banks location at 912 S. Main Street, giving them two locations in Sikeston.

“Sometimes you hear there are too many banks in a community,” McPheeters said. “But having banks in a community is a good sign of a strong economy. We have good bankers in this community and I’m proud to be a part of it.”