MEETING ON CHAFFEE SCHOOLS PROPOSAL SET

CHAFFEE -- The Chaffee Board of Education will hold a public meeting March 12 to provide voters with information about a school bond issue on the April 7 election ballot.

School board members decided in December to place the proposal on the ballot. Passage would allow the district to issue $1,450,000 in bonds to finance construction of additional classrooms and improvements to the elementary school and high-school buildings.

The public meeting will be held at 6:15 p.m. in the Chaffee High School library. Biggs said he and board members will answer any questions concerning the bond issue, and are willing to speak to groups on other dates if needed.

Superintendent Dr. Bob Biggs said the bond issue would not increase taxes. Property owners currently have a $3.60 adjusted tax rate per $100 assessed valuation. Of that amount, 85 cents is for a debt service levy.

"We have to have the voters' permission to sell bonds," said Biggs.

He said money from the sale of the bonds would be used to add restrooms, a new library and media center, two sixth-grade classrooms and a computer lab at the elementary school. Space is cramped in the building for the 300-plus students, he said.

"Our present library was good in its day, but right now we've got a choice of books or computers, and we really need both," he said. "We'll also add a meeting and conference room that would be used for that purpose until it was needed for classroom space, which at our current rate of growth would be a year or two down the road."

The additional room at the elementary school would eliminate the need for two modular classrooms in use, he said. One trailer has been used in the district "for as long as anybody can remember," he said. The other was added in 1995.

Planned improvements at the high school would also mean building three additional classrooms. The need is critical, because there is one class more than there are classrooms scheduled for the next school year, Biggs said. The other classrooms would house an alternative education computer lab and special education class.

Other improvements to the high school would include the addition of public restrooms and a concession stand at the football stadium. A multipurpose room with a kitchen would also be added to relieve scheduling problems and provide a lunchroom for secondary students.

"The main purpose for this room would be for food service and for additional practice facilities," said Biggs. "We have an open campus, and we're not planning to close campus at this point. This would give them the option to have a place to eat on campus, and we'd make that area available to the public during non-school hours."