T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY West Marshall Superintendent Jacy Large presented to an audience of about 20 gathered in the high school auditorium Wednesday night for a meeting about the $14 million General Obligation (GO) bond issue on the ballot in the upcoming election. If passed, it would allow for the construction of a new K-5 elementary building and a Career and Technical Education (CTE) wing connecting the middle school to the high school.

Before a crowd of about 20 people gathered inside the West Marshall High School auditorium on Wednesday night, Superintendent Jacy Large — an alumni of the district and the son of its former middle school principal himself — explained the rationale behind the upcoming $14 million General Obligation (GO) bond vote that will be on the ballot Nov. 5. When paired with about $8 million in Securing an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) funds, it would pave the way for the construction of a new K-5 elementary building, the creation of a parent drop off and pickup area at that new building and an addition that would connect the current middle and high schools while also providing Career and Technical Education (CTE) space for students and instructors. The K-5 facility would replace the current intermediate elementary building, which was constructed in 1923. The district’s voters previously passed a bond issue for improvements at the 1923 building in 1996 and another for a new middle school located adjacent to the high school in 2009.

As the meeting kicked off, Large, who returned to West Marshall in 2016 and previously served as the principal at Miller Middle School in Marshalltown, laid out some facts, figures and history on the current state of the district’s facilities and the top priorities from the standpoint of the administration and the school board — while also acknowledging the inconvenient fact that construction costs have skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic. Studio MELEE Architect/Owner Chris Wernimont and School Board President Rod Honeck were also on hand. The bond they are pursuing would raise taxes by $1.90 per $1,000 of valuation, which is well below the district’s maximum bonding capacity of $2.70 (about $24 million total) for a single ballot question.

After noting that several other area districts including Marshalltown, East Marshall and GMG are pursuing referendums of their own, Large said the SAVE funds the district receives through the statewide one-cent sales tax are already being put toward debt service on the current middle school building. He also stressed the increased focus on school safety in the aftermath of the deadly shooting in Perry, a fellow member of the Heart of Iowa Athletic Conference, and ensuring that West Marshall students are protected from the elementary to the high school.

Once he had spoken for about 25 minutes, Large began to take questions from the audience. The first came from a woman wondering how many students and teachers were traveling between the middle and high schools, and he said there were certain classes that required them to do so — he estimated that about 250 kids walked across the parking lot per day.

The next few questions focused on whether students are allowed to leave campus during the school day (they aren’t) and why more maintenance wasn’t kept up on the brick at the old middle school. Although overall enrollment at West Marshall has trended downward by about 100 students in the past decade (conversely, however, 182 students are open enrolled in, an all-time high), Doug Riley asked Large if the facility they were proposing to build would be big enough if the number trends back upward in the future.

“To put me on the spot, yes,” the superintendent replied.

He went on to break down the enrollment by community and said that while Melbourne had more students in the WMCSD eight years ago when he came onboard, the pendulum is now swinging back to State Center. Eggers also asked for more information on which CTE programs would be added, which led Large into a more detailed analysis of how work-based learning has grown at West Marshall.

In partnership with MARSHALLTOWN Company, for example, the district has seen an increase in the number of students learning the masonry trade and becoming bricklayers right out of high school. Robotics and computer programming have also taken off along with auto mechanic training with Brian’s Collision Center and welding.

Nine years ago, Large said, there was talk of building some sort of regional partnership building in Marshalltown, but he opposed it because he felt West Marshall could already offer most of the job training programs in-house and would lose funding for them if they were offered elsewhere. He also discussed the various locations considered for new construction but considered the plan being offered — a K-5 building at the current site of the intermediate school, 207 3rd St. SW — the best long-term solution.

Of course, one of the main, and perhaps the most important, considerations for many prospective voters is the tax impact, and among nearby districts, Large pointed out that West Marshall currently has the second lowest overall levy rate at $11.52 per $1,000 of valuation. He also dove into the recent jump in assessed values and how the rollback is designed to protect property taxpayers from seeing massive jumps in their bills.

In practical terms, the monthly increase for a property assessed at $200,000 — $13.91 — essentially amounts to a single medium Casey’s pizza. The yearly bump would be $166.89 on that same property. Large clarified that individuals and families who open enroll their kids into West Marshall would not be able to vote on the bond issue as only residents have that right, and he also noted that housing within the district is often difficult to secure.

Large described the deterioration of the 1923 building and shared photos of cracked walls and decaying infrastructure, and in the final half hour or so, the meeting shifted to more of an open conversation format. One attendee lamented that she felt she hadn’t known much about the bond prior to showing up for the meeting and wondered how information had been disseminated to residents throughout the process.

Another characterized it as a societal shift with parents dropping their kids off at school and expecting educators to raise them from there. Younger students, Large replied, are less likely to notice the conditions of their facilities, but they become more aware by the time they get to middle and high school.

Honeck said district leadership had utilized local newspapers, a website, mailers, emails and more in an effort to get the word out, but they hadn’t necessarily focused on the current condition of the 1923 building.

“You can lead the horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. We had a meeting, what was it, three weeks ago, on a Sunday. Two people (showed up),” Honeck said. “And it’s not from a lack of communication efforts anyway. I think part of it is, I don’t know if it’s apathy within the community (or) they don’t care, I don’t know what it is.”

There were even booths set up at home football games, he added, but they didn’t garner much attention. As another subsequent commenter put it, a lot of voters simply want to know how their tax bills will be affected, but he was glad that the project focused on education and not athletic facilities or turf.

In conclusion, Large reflected on his own educational journey at West Marshall and the changing modern landscape, and he thanked everyone who made time to attend. The bond issue requires a 60 percent supermajority to pass, and more information can be found at https://www.westmarshallcsdfuture.org/.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com