On Tuesday
May 2nd, the community of Grosse Ile supported the school
district’s ballot requests to upgrade the facilities and educational
opportunities. On Wednesday, May 3rd, I began to get questions
like: “When do we notice a change in our tax bills?” “When will the money
be available for the district to start the work?” “When will the work on
the high school begin?” “When will the parking lots be repaired?” “When
will I get my new classroom furniture (at the elementary level)?” “When do
we begin to wire for the upgraded technology?” And the questions have not
stopped. This is a nice problem to have because we know that it is just a
matter of time before each of these questions will have satisfactory
answers. It is only through the generosity and faith the community has in
the Grosse Ile Township Schools that we are able to move toward our
First things first…over the next month, the GITS (Grosse Ile Township Schools) will be involved in the sale of the bonds. This will take place during the first or second week of June and we will have the bond proceeds by the end of June. We will have a negotiated bond sale so that we can give our community the first opportunity to purchase the bonds. The bonds will be issued in denominations of $5,000 and citizens can purchase the bonds through their brokers. The district is working with A.G. Edwards in the sale of bonds and will most likely have National City Bank and Fifth Third Bank as co-manager of the bond proceeds. We will levy the first ½ mill for the bond on July 1, 2006 and the second ½ mill for the bond will be levied December 1, 2006. Likewise, we will levy the first ½ mill for the sinking fund July 1, 2006 and the second ½ mill for the sinking fund December 1, 2006. On Tuesday, May 16th, we began working with French and Associates (architect) and Wolgast (construction management company) to design the improvements to the high school. All high school staff members were invited to join the planning team. The detail work will now begin as the architects gather input for the preparation of the blueprints and specifications. The plans will have to go through an approval process with the State to make sure that we are being faithful to our requested proposals and keeping everything in the proper context. The plan is for the bids for the High School to go out in mid-January 2007, bids to be awarded in mid-March 2007, and site work to begin in mid-June 2007, once school is out for the year. Work that will take place this summer includes technology replacement, installation of a water pump system to water the fields, replacement of old roofing, replacement of classroom furniture and the purchase of school busses. In addition, working with the Board of Education’s Building and Grounds Committee, we will be developing a schedule of priority projects to be covered under the sinking funds’ five year timeline. Since we will only be able to levy $300,000 twice a year, it is important that we plan carefully. Currently, we are looking for citizens who would like to serve on an “oversight committee”. This committee’s duties would be to review our plans, processes and expenditures throughout the construction. If you are interested, please give us a call and we will make sure that you are aware of meetings and have pertinent information forwarded to you. Without a doubt, it is an exciting time. As many of you know, the construction process does take time. There are inconveniences to be addressed and people need to be patient. We will be making every attempt to keep you updated. We are going to make sure that due diligence is followed and that our promises to this generous community are fulfilled. We know that there will be many more questions to be asked… Over the next months and years, you will see that we are moving in the right direction. Our students and this community will be better off as a direct result of our joint decision on May 2nd. Dena A. Dardzinski |
|||
