JACKSON NEEDS TO CONSIDER WHERE TO SPEND

I haven't been able to read all of the letters and comments on the Jackson school bond issue, so I may cover some old ground in this letter. My concern: Are we putting the money in the right place at the right time?

The current plan is to expand the junior high school, but at the Aug. 22 school board meeting Dr. Ron Anderson said in two years we would have to take a look at expansion of the middle school. This school is exploding now. Because the cafeteria doubles as the study hall, students are limited to a 15-minute lunch in four shifts. When the first student in line is finished, everyone has to go. This gives some students only 5 to 7 minutes to eat. Does anyone think such restrictions would be allowed in prisons? Yet we allow it in our school. And next year one of the largest classes ever in the district arrives. Add in the traffic, and you have one large problem that's not being addressed.

At the junior high school where the attention is focused, the concerns are narrow halls, students unable to get to lockers and the cafeteria, library and gym being too small.

The gym is too small and should be enlarged, but only for junior high sports, not to replace the multipurpose building at the high school. As explained at the open house I went to, the plan is to move the girls basketball and boys wrestling to the new multipurpose junior high gym. Why? Because the multipurpose building at the high school is too small. This building is only about 10 years old, and its usefulness is over?

But at the junior high, you can't make the halls wider unless you rebuild the entire building, so stop talking about crowded halls. As to students getting to their lockers, they don't need to go after every class, and if the building is configured as planned, they won't be able to get to them either. And is an area for a writing workshop really necessary? The dining-room table has worked for several generations.

It was also said if the bids were lower than expected, then they could build four more rooms. Seems like this is already in the plans. So are we getting true cost estimates?

This expansion is to allow the junior high to handle up to 1,000 students. Yet they tell us once you get over 700 students, contact with the administration is limited. So will they want another school to get the number down?

When you look at the high school, you find the multipurpose building is too small for some activities it was planned for. The main building is not up to Americans With Disabilities Act standards. Are we going to wait till a student or teacher needs assistance and is turned away and a federal court mandates a new building and taxes to pay for it?

With all of these concerns, what has the board done to make plans to meet or correct these problems?

What alternatives have been looked at in design and materials to lower costs and give flexibility for future growth?

So before we give $1 or $6 million and use up more of our bonding capacity, let's get a thorough review. Look at where we are growing, how much we are growing, what new mandates must be met and how to meet them.

KEVIN A. SCHAPER

Jackson, Mo.