Former administrator supports Jackson issue

As a retired classroom teacher and building and district administrator in the Jackson School District for 34 years, I encourage district voters to vote for the special school bond election on Nov. 2.

The main classroom building, Building A, was 42 years old when I was a Jackson High School graduate in 1962.

This school year, it's not only twice as old, but certainly considered unsafe by current standards of school construction.

The 1920 building was not built for the earthquake concerns and to the seismic standards now required for all new schools in Southeast Missouri.

In addition, school violence is more of a concern in 2004 for school administrators who have been increasingly concerned about school safety and who are aware of who has access to each school entrance.

There are seven high school buildings and numerous entrances on the high school campus. Building principals cannot ensure that all visitors are known and accounted for on the campus.

In the last several years, neighboring school districts have supported construction of new high schools for their students. Cape Girardeau and Notre Dame have excellent new high schools.

Our school board and administrators have done an outstanding job in explaining and justifying the need for new facilities for the future of our high school students. Our district's students, teachers and administrators are working hard in promoting this bond issue.

If the bond issue passes, it would cost my wife and me about $128 a year in extra taxes.

That's much less than the cost of a bottle of water or a cup of coffee a day to ensure that our eight grandchildren have safe and effective high school facilities.

For those senior citizens who qualify, even that minimum cost may be offset by the provisions of a Missouri law known as the Circuit Breaker statute, which provides tax credits or refunds to qualified senior citizens whose property taxes are increased by local bond issues.

I join the written support of this bond issues from my brother, Gerald Jones; my good friends and former colleagues, Wayne Maupin, Vernon Huck and Nick Leist; my former students, John M. Thompson and Robyn Hosp; my neighbors, Hughes and Doris Davault; and Mayor Paul Sander in urging the support of the Jackson school bond proposal on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Fred O. Jones is a Jackson resident.