‘They don’t trust us.’ Pocatello/Chubbuck School Board trustees discuss next steps forward after bond fails.
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POCATELLO — In the wake of Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 bond failure, school board trustees are trying to determine the next steps for Highland and Century high schools.
On Tuesday, a $45 million, 15-year bond to rebuild and upgrade Highland High School as well as upgrade Century High School did not pass. Although 56% of voters supported the bond, it failed to receive the required 66.7% supermajority.
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The bond was proposed in the wake of a devastating fire that gutted Highland High School’s D-wing. This left the school without a cafeteria, band room and weight room, among other necessary school facilities.
The aim of the bond was to construct an entirely new auditorium, music wing, cafeteria and gym with athletic rooms in the footprint of the old D-wing. It was also to flip Century High School’s main gym to be perpendicular with the auxiliary gym and construct an annex for multi-purpose uses.
The district’s options
“Now that we’re in this situation, do we just take the insurance money and go replace (what we had) or do we wait and go with another bond?” asked Trustee Angie Oliver at a special meeting Wednesday.
The district is expecting approximately $25 million in insurance funds for the damaged section of Highland High School.
While no decisions have been made officially, the board is considering rerunning the bond in May. They also discussed the possibility of splitting the goals of the measure into separate bonds.
“I think more of those that were disappointed that it didn’t pass might now find themselves in the voting booth,” said Trustee Heather Clark.
Trustee Deanna Judy said the district’s estimated insurance settlement will cover the costs of rebuilding Highland the same as it was. However, she questioned whether doing that would plan ahead for the school’s future.
“So do we go forward and build a gym that doesn’t have a high enough ceiling for volleyball?” Judy asked. “Do we do we leave the science classrooms, that are extremely dated, separated throughout the school?”
Judy compared it to building a house, where it’s cheaper to build it right the first time rather then do renovations and add-ons.
“Let’s fix this right,” said Trustee Paul Vitale. “(We) could take it back to them and then just deal with the consequences.”
Judy also spoke about how she liked implementing a bond because there’s more accountability with how the money is spent.
“If there is any (funds) leftover, it is returned to the taxpayers,” Judy said. “And that’s one one reason why I personally voted for the contractors that I voted for, because (they) consistently came in under budget and returned money.”
‘They don’t trust us’
In addition to discussion on the next steps, the board also discussed why the measure had failed.
“I would really like to know where we failed and why we did it,” said Jim Facer, board chair.
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Clarke said many people in the community did not trust the district when they put out messaging about how the bond could have a net zero tax impact.
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“We have needs in this district, and we were fortunate enough to find a time where there were things and tools that lined up,” Clarke said.
A number of the Trustees spoke about the mistrust members of the community have for them.
“The feedback that I’m getting from the community… they don’t trust us,” Oliver said.
Facer said he didn’t understand where the mistrust for the school district came from. He spoke highly of how the district has used its money, and said that it could have put out a bond before this for other projects but didn’t.
And the trustees spoke about how some people in the community took issue with the scope of the bond. Oliver pointed out how some people had problems with combining Highland and Century in the same bond.
Something that Clarke believed would bring more support for the bond was including improvements to Century High School.
“I really felt like this was a way that we were going to rally that end of town to also see this was going to benefit the community. This was not about Highland,” Clarke said.