DELTA SCHOOL CANDIDATES BACK SCHOOL BOND ISSUE

DELTA -- All six candidates for the Delta Board of Education are backing a $1.05 million school bond issue.

They say it will provide needed facility improvements for the small, rural school district.

Voters Tuesday will decide the fate of the bond issue and choose from among the six candidates for three, three-year terms on the board.

Incumbents James Bowers and Donald Hester are seeking re-election. Also running are Don Dinkins, Junior Helderman, Doyle Parmer and Wesley Kinder Jr.

The bond issue requires a four-sevenths majority for approval. It would pay for a 19,900-square-foot addition to the Lowell Jones Building behind the old high school.

The addition would include a cafeteria, multipurpose room, science class and lab, home economics, business, special education, library, health service office, counseling office, and administrative office.

Money would also be spent on new heating and cooling units for the elementary school, and new roofs for the elementary school and the Lowell Jones Building.

The Lowell Jones Building was built in 1977. The elementary school dates back to 1957. The deteriorating high school building, constructed in 1921, would be demolished, said Superintendent Larry Beshears.

"No one wants more taxes, but this is one tax that stays at home," said Hester, a construction electrician who has served on the school board for 15 years and is seeking his sixth term.

"We don't send our money off to Washington and Jefferson City, and hope a little of it trickles back," said Hester.

"Like most small schools, our school has been having financial difficulties," said Hester.

He said the bond issue is needed to pay for basic facility improvements.

Bowers, who is seeking a second term on the board, also voiced support for the bond issue. "Our old building is run down," he said.

Improving the facilities will also free up money that currently has to be spent on costly repairs, he said. That money could be used to offer more academic programs, he said.

"I think we are headed in the right direction," said Bowers. "We are just kind of like all the other small schools. We need the finances to grow."

Dinkins, who is employed by the Missouri Industries shoe manufacturing company in Dexter, favors passage of the bond issue.

"We need to do something," he said of the aging high school.

If the bond issue passes, Dinkins said he would like to see the district pay off the bonds over a shorter period of time than the scheduled 20 years. By doing so, he said, the district would save in interest costs.

Dinkins, who has children in the school system, likes the atmosphere of the rural district. "I like the smallness of the schools. I like the one-on-one relationship between the teachers and the students."

Helderman is another parent who would like to be involved in directing the future of the school district.

As to the need for the bond issue, the Whitewater area resident said: "The high school is in bad shape. The rest of the buildings are in pretty good shape. They just need to be repaired and maintained."

He believes the Delta school system provides children with a good education. "We just all need to be involved with our kids' education," said Helderman, who works for Fronabarger Concreters of Jackson.

Kinder, who has two sons in the school system and is employed by HWI, said he wants to help maintain the rural district.

"I think a lot of people would like to see their school stay where it is," said Kinder, expressing concern that Delta might eventually be forced to consolidate with a larger school system, such as the nearby Chaffee School District.

"I'd like to see the community more involved with the school," said Kinder, maintaining that lack of such involvement previously led to defeat of a tax levy.

Without community involvement, he said, there's little chance of passing any bond issue.

Parmer, who has two daughters in the school system, said, "You've got to have finances to run the schools." The bond issue, he said, would pay for needed facility improvements, including science and math labs.

"I feel it is a needed thing and it will only benefit Delta. It will benefit the children of the district," said Parmer, who operates Dutchtown Electronics and has assisted with youth league sports.

Parmer, 36, said he can bring some "new ideas" to the school board.