It is now just a few days before one of the most important votes in the history of Mineral County Schools, and yes, for all of Mineral County.  We have designed a bond proposal that will go before the voters on Tuesday, May 13, 2008.  As Board of Education members we have been watching the growth occur in neighboring counties and planning what we would do when it started to come our way.  Well, that time is here.  We are beginning to get the increase in students, due somewhat to the increase in jobs at ATK/ABL.  What the management at ATK/ABL has been telling us is now starting to fall in place.  Based on School Building Authority guidelines, most of our schools are woefully inadequate in space just for our current enrollment.
We have voted to keep our primary schools open.  We want our students to be able to attend primary school through grade 4 in their home communities.
In order to accomplish this we need to add classrooms to schools in the Frankfort district.  The additions at Wiley Ford Primary School and at Frankfort Intermediate School will allow us to keep those students in their “home” schools and greatly reduce bus time for the Carpendale/Ridgeley/Wiley Ford/Lakewood students.  Currently, some of those students are on the bus 45-50 minutes one-way.
We all know that the current Keyser Primary/Middle School is just too crowded.  We are proposing the construction of a new primary school to be built on property the Board owns—Tack Clark Complex.  This new construction allows us to split the Keyser schools into a primary school and a separate middle school.  Through careful planning with our architect, we have been able to save the football and softball fields for community use.  We have also found space to re-construct “Chip’s Place” in order to provide restroom facilities.  The new primary school will also include a gymnasium that will also be available for community use after school hours.  And yes, a walking trail will be maintained for the community.
Finally, passage of this bond will allow us to provide a multi-purpose room/gymnasium for Burlington Primary School.  This has been a great need for many, many years.  This addition will benefit the school, as well as the entire Burlington community.
As we said earlier, this is a most important vote for the future of Mineral County Schools.  This bond is for $15.8 million and will help generate $25.4 million of improvement in our school facilities.  A bond call is a legal document—we must do what is stated in the bond call.
In the words of Mark A. Manchin, Executive Director of the School Building Authority of West Virginia, “Everybody wants a school in their community.  Passage of this bond gives Mineral County citizens the opportunity to make this happen.”
We ask that you vote “YES” for the bond. 
Mary Aronhalt, Board of Education President
Terry LaRue, Board of Education Vice-President
Todd Ellifritz, Board Member
Bob Shook, Board Member
Kevin Watson, Board Member