$22 million bond referendum to renovate EM school is Sept. 14
East Mills School District voters head to the polls this fall to cast their ballots on a proposed $22 million bond referendum to renovate the current high school-middle school into a consolidated pre-kindergarten through 12th grade building in Malvern.
But there will be far more on the ballot than simply a question of Yes or No to a major capital expense.
The future of the district and its educational reach in its current, 1960s era buildings or a modern building for its nearly 500 students are all at play in the vote set for Sept. 14, say the supporters of the bond initiative.
“Our facilities have been kept up but they’re still kind of dated in the 1960s,” said East Mills School Board President Jan Zanders. “They’re behind the curve. It’s time. They need some love.”
Emalie Hogan, who serves on the district’s facilities committee, points to K-12 buildings in Lenox and Fremont-Mills as models for what she’d like to see East Mills adopt.
“They are up to date and modern,” she said. “I started school in Lenox, which isn’t quite as modern, but they had two separate schools and by the time I graduated we had consolidated into one K-12 school. I loved that transition as a student and I think that’s a big asset for rural schools.”
East Mills currently utilizes two buildings: the junior-senior high school in Malvern and the pre-K/elementary school building located eight miles to the east on Highway 34. The bond project proposal would include a renovation of the existing junior-senior high building and an extensive addition that would include new classrooms, gymnasium, weight room, common space and secure entrances that would double the size of the current building. Upgrades to the athletic fields, parking lots and site access would also be included.
It’s been a decade since the Nishna Valley and Malvern School Districts merged as East Mills. The district that serves the communities of Emerson, Hastings, Henderson, Malvern and Strahan hasn’t always had the smoothest of transitions. Facilities improvements talks have come and gone and rumors have persisted of a simmering divide among the residents in the former districts.
Zanders has heard and seen almost all of that. A 1973 Malvern graduate and a retired teacher from the Omaha Public Schools, she’s served on the school board since 2015. All of her children attended the Malvern schools and she has grandchildren in the district currently.
A facilities upgrade and building consolidation had long been points of contention. Back in 2014 the district commissioned a facilities study that recommended similar upgrades. The board, however, decided at that time not to move forward.
But the project began to gain traction in the last year with several community engagement meetings and multiple surveys.
In June, the East Mills school board unanimously approved the $22 million bond referendum that will go to voters. The measure would need a 60 percent “super majority” to pass.
Zanders said the board took a long, close look at the facilities, what needs to be done and what would be the best timing to address them. The first step, she said, was to bring the district on the same financial level.
Since the 2011 merger, residents in the Malvern and Nishna Valley Community School District footprints have operated under two different tax levies. That financial quirk had Nishna Valley residents paying slightly more in property taxes as a result of that district’s previous bond issue at the former school campus that is now East Mills Elementary. This year, that tax disparity goes away, Zanders said, with the former Nishna Valley bond now paid off.
“We will be on equal footing,” she said.
The board’s next step was hiring an architect and a construction firm to do an analysis of both facilities. That resulting report, which is available online at www.emschools.org, resulted in the board considering six varying facilities options moving forward.
The six options, according to Zanders, included: doing nothing, building a brand-new school in a brand-new locations; building a pre-K through 12 facility at the current elementary site; renovating both schools; flipping the schools, making Malvern the elementary and the elementary site the new high school; or renovating and consolidating pre-K through 12 in the Malvern building.
The board held six community engagement meetings discussing the recommendations. A facilities committee, formed by the board from community members, met seven more times and in all more than 500 surveys of parents, student and staff were conducted.
The option that was most supported by those who participated in the community survey was having a pre-K through 12 building in Malvern. As a result, the elementary school property on Highway 34 would be put up for sale.
“They thought for the future of the district, it was probably best to have one facility,” Zanders said.
Hogan, who serves on the district’s facilities committee along with a dozen other district residents, is a recent transplant to Malvern after growing up in the Lenox-Corning area. While her daughter isn’t school age yet, she has thrown her support behind the bond and the consolidated school building.
“I was a really big proponent,” Hogan said. “I liked the idea of one central school where all the kids can collaborate but also have their own space. I also really like the idea they will have a facility within city limits, closer to emergency personnel. As a mom, I feel safer with that. I also like the idea we might be able to get more resources for the younger kids that Malvern doesn’t currently have.”
A facilities upgrade is long overdue, Hogan said. Neither school is ADA compliant and as an occupational therapist, “access for all” is a key issue for her. But the building’s shortcomings go beyond accessibility.
“The building is out -of- date,” she said. “I want the building and the facilities to match what the teachers want to design in their teaching programs so the environment can facilitate their teaching and not be one more barrier that they’re working with.”
Both Hogan and Zanders agree the $22 million price tag is a sticking point for some.
But Zanders feels its “reasonable for what all needs to be done” and isn’t likely to get cheaper if put off.
“It’s not only updating the facilities and athletic fields and playground and the construction it’s also equipping it,” she said. “It’s desks inside, the whole package. It’s also paving parking lots. It’s a lot of stuff.”
If passed, the $22 million bond would mean a tax levy increase for district residents of $2.70 per $1,000 of taxable property valuation. That figure would raise the East Mills tax levy to $12.23.
Yes, that’s an increase to taxes, Zanders said, but compared to other neighboring districts, still leaves East Mills as one of the lowest in the area. Fremont-Mills’ tax levy currently sits at 12.28 following their major renovations in 2019 while Essex (12.83), Shenandoah (12.85) and Sidney (13.81) are all higher than East Mills.
“It’s a huge plus,” Zanders said of the district’s low tax levy. “You’re gaining a renovated, brand new elementary plus the whole campus is being updated and your taxes are still below your neighboring districts? Our architect and the construction superintendent both said they have never, ever had that type of experience.”
In her conversations with area residents Hogan said the project cost comes up the most but the referendum is far more complex and “multi-factorial” than just economics. It’s territorial, and change is always hard, she said.
“It feels like we have two school districts trying to be one and it feels like we’ve maintained that with two separate locations,” she said. “I’m an outsider coming in and it’s only my external perspective but I think I’ve learned a lot about how each much community held a lot of pride in their independent schools. What I hope is people can see you can each have community pride but we’re doing this for our students, the kids.”
Getting the word out about the vote and with it the most accurate information on the plan is key, Zanders said. A “Vote Yes for East Mills” campaign has been gaining steam over the summer with an active online presence. A yard sign push and a district voter canvass is also in the works.
“People in this district are passionate about providing our children the best education possible and I think we have great staff; our ACT scores are above the state average,” Zanders said. “We just need to have the facilities to match.”