With the Hillsboro High School referendum not passing during last week's primary elections, it's back to the drawing board for the school board. Hillsboro School Superintendent David Powell says they did not put together a Plan B or back up plan.
We spent all of our time and efforts trying to develop a plan that, based on feedback we were getting, was the best solution. Obviously that was not acceptable to the community, there's just not support for that, which is the result of the referendum process - that's how that works - so we're going to have to go back to the drawing board, so to speak. I'm in the process of scheduling, for next week, a Building and Grounds Committee meeting and then we've got the board meeting coming up and there will be an opportunity for public comments at that meeting on the 12th for anybody that has suggestions for how we may move forward. But it's not the case that we had a plan that we put on the ballot for March 15th and then another plan ready if that one failed, that's not it at all.
Powell says they are soliciting input from the community about a new plan.
Several board members talked to me individually that say they've really been talking to folks in the community - (asking) 'why didn't you support it, what would you like to see happen instead?' So we're really listening to the community and going to use that public input then to steer the project moving forward.
Powell says the problem is not going to go away and something still needs to be done at the high school.
It's not something that we just don't need or won't have to spend some money on. Clearly the public did not support the project that was on the ballot March 15th, so moving forward we've got to find a project that meets, especially the immediate needs, which is primarily that main building. We've got to find a project that meets our needs moving forward that the community can support.
There will be an opportunity for public comment and suggestions on what to do moving forward at the next Hillsboro Board of Education meeting on April 12th.
3/23 Additions: The Building and Grounds Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 29th. A public forum regarding the High School Building Project will be held on April 5th.Thomack 3/21/16
