School district to assess bond results

KELLOGG — The Kellogg School District failed to get its Facilities Maintenance Bond passed this last week, missing the mark by roughly 39 votes.

The proposed bond was set for 12 years totaling $7.9 million and was designated to support improvements to every building throughout the district.

KSD Superintendent Nancy Larsen, although disappointed that it didn’t pass, wasn’t looking at the result as a loss.

“I still look at it as a win because we had about 64 percent (vote in favor of the bond), that’s well over the majority,” Larsen said. “It speaks volumes to me.”

The bond required a super majority, meaning it needed to pass by 66 and 2/3 percent plus one vote to pass.

Larsen’s optimism in defeat should calm the nerves of a district who has now failed to pass this type of bond on the last two attempts.

“We also won in the fact that we had a group come together, not just comprised of district staff or employees, but we brought in people who didn’t always agree with how we do things here and they formed a group whose bonds have become very strong,” Larsen said. “They have become a great support system for us. They have a great knowledge of our buildings and they saw where things needed to be changed or fixed.”

The big issue, in the eyes of Larsen and the group she alluded to, is, are the kids in the district being taken care of.

“The real concern is for our kiddos and how are we going to maintain our buildings for the future,” Larsen said. “The buildings don’t necessarily belong to the school district, they belong to the community. Keeping them in working condition for a long time is going to be very important. It’s going take some more work.”

Even with the bond not passing, Larsen doesn’t put the blame on the people who voted “No,” but on the system itself that put the KSD behind the eight ball from the beginning.

“I think the biggest obstacle we had was the state of Idaho,” Larsen said. “The state of Idaho and one other state in our union (Kentucky) have decided that a majority of patron’s voices doesn’t count in this issue. They want a super majority, an obstacle that is becoming much more difficult to overcome.”

Where the district goes from here is still unknown, they do have a few options that the school board will look at, but nothing decided at this time.

For more information on the state of the Kellogg School District, contact Dr. Nancy Larsen at 208-784-1348.