PERRYVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: BOARD CONSIDERS BUILDING TAX LEVY

PERRYVILLE -- Increasing enrollment in the Perry County School District has prompted the district's school board to consider asking voters to help fund construction of additional school space.

Voters could be faced with a 25- to 30-cent tax levy increase or a bond issue to fund additions to several school buildings.

The school board likely will decide at a meeting Wednesday whether to put one or both proposals before district voters in April.

The money would fund the "first phase" of the district's 10-year master plan, which was developed by board members and committees comprised of parents and residents of the district.

The first phase is expected to cost about $4.8 million. It includes additions to the high school, which would become the elementary school, and additions to the elementary school, which would be converted to a middle school for students in grades 5-8.

Cafeteria space also would be added, said board Vice President Kim Moore said. One of the district's cafeterias that was designed to serve about 500 students now serves about 1,800 daily.

"They are having to serve lunch from 10:30 or 11 until 2 in the afternoon. It's a horrendous mess," he said.

Added classroom space and additional teachers would help maintain a relatively low student-to-teacher ratio in the district, one of the master plan's goals.

Moving high school and elementary students to different buildings would help alleviate the problem of conducting high school classes in different buildings.

"The campus has gotten to the point that over a number of years there is little identity to the grade levels," Moore said. "Kids were strung out all over the campus, and that was causing in some instances a seven-minute interval between classes to allow time to get from one class to another."

The building plans were devised by architect David Kromm, whose firm was hired by the board.

The bond issue is expected to pay for construction, and the tax levy would cover maintenance and additional construction.

Moore said the district's enrollment has increased considerably over the years. He said additional classrooms have been needed for years.

"As one board member, I feel it has been necessary for a number of years," he said. "It's something that has to be done if the district continues to grow as it has been."