Marion ballots due Tuesday

Ballots for Marion School’s $2.2 million bond election must be returned to the school Tuesday.

Voters in the Marion district must decide whether they will support the request, which will pay for an 11,955-square-foot expansion.

The district mailed ballots to its registered voters Jan. 6. They must be returned — not postmarked — by 8 p.m. Tuesday to count in the election.

Unlike standard elections, which require a minimum voter turnout in order to be counted, mail-ballot elections have no minimum turnout requirement. They also have no margin restrictions; a simple majority will decide the bond issue.

If voters approve the request, property taxes on a home with an assessed value of $100,000 would increase by about $48 a year. Annual taxes on a home with a $150,000 assessed value would go up by about $72.

School board trustees have said they recognize the challenge of running a bond election during a recession. But trustees say the proposed expansion is necessary to make the school safer and accessible for all students.

The plan calls for restrooms that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The federal law requires public schools to accommodate students who need handicapped-accessible facilities.

So far, no Marion student has ever required modified restrooms. If a student who needed them moved into the district, the school would have to build an appropriate facility, likely at great expense.

The expansion also would include five new classrooms for fourth- through eighth-grade students, and new rooms and a waiting area for special education, Title I, counseling, psychology and speech.

Current counseling sessions and Title I and GEAR UP classes are held in the basement, an area a state fire inspector has said is unfit for student use. But school officials say there is nowhere else to put those students, and so far Marion School has not faced fines or been ordered to fix the situation.

The plan would free up the school’s modular building, which currently houses fourth- and fifth-graders. There is no restroom in that building; students must use facilities in the main building.

If voters approve the bond issue, the modular building likely will become a music room and be moved to the back of the gym, where it also could be used to store physical education equipment.

Music classes are now held in the gym, which is a high-traffic area. Between music and gym classes and lunch, finding space for all students to take those classes is a “scheduling nightmare,” trustees say.

Trustees have said that having all the students under one roof will improve “educational efficiency,” especially in cold weather. Students now have to bundle up in the main building, walk with a teacher to Title I or GEAR UP classes or a counseling session in the front building and then shed their warm layers. They have to repeat the whole process when they go back to class.

The plan also would improve safety, trustees say. The school’s many entrances would be consolidated into one main entry next to a new main office.

The plan also calls for a new principal’s office, which would allow Principal Justin Barnes to move out of his current office, the janitor’s closet. District Clerk Rae Mitchell would move out of the boiler room and into the former school office.

School bond issues have not fared well in Flathead County in recent months. Cayuse Prairie voters passed a $1.95 million bond issue in November 2009 to build a new gym, but bond requests in Kila, Fair-Mont-Egan and West Valley were voted down.

For additional information about the bond election or the plan, contact the school at 854-2333.