SELLERSBURG, Ind. — The precarious footing of the West Clark Community Schools Corp. has led to the board rescinding its prior vote to use general obligation bonds to address immediate heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and safety needs across the district.
On Aug. 10, the board voted to issue nearly $6 million in bonds for what was deemed immediate needs; $2 million was to be spent at the Henryville campus, $2 million at Borden and $1.7 at Silver Creek middle and elementary schools. Those needs were primarily the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems and security at each campus.
However, the district’s proposed $95 million referendum was turned down by 70 percent of the voters earlier this month. The referendum aimed to solve what the board considered needs at each campus, but the majority was allocated for Silver Creek High School.
Two days after that vote, the board unanimously voted for Silver Creek to secede from the district. It will take time, approval from the state and another public vote before the action is official, but moving toward separation makes it tricky for the district to issue bonds.
“It would not have been a problem to issue the bonds, but they would have been made a little bit more expensive for us,” West Clark Superintendent Chad Schenck said. “All the council [the board] was receiving was it may not be an opportune time to do anything until you find out.”
The issue, Schenck said, is all debt would be split equally among the taxpayers. So if Silver Creek succeeds in splitting off, those taxpayers would be paying for nearly $3 million of debt when the school system only received $1.7 million in repairs.
Instead of issuing general obligation bonds, capital projects funds will be used to amp up security.
“We felt the safe, secure entrances is something that needs to happen…. Making all the entrances even more secure than they are. Where we’ve identified needing a second set of buzz-in doors," Schenck said.
The aim is to create an area at each campus where visitors can enter the building and speak with a receptionist, but can’t access the entire school unless the receptionist allows them. Hand-in-hand with a second set of secure doors is implementing the RAPTOR system district-wide.
“That’s another piece of that added security that we knows exists, we’ve piloted it, know what it costs and that it’s affordable for us,” Schenck said.
The system scans the I.D. of visitors when they check-in and alerts staff if that person is on any watch lists or is on the sexual offender registry. The system is currently in place at Silver Creek primary and elementary schools according to Schenck.
