COLUMBUS -- The Lakeview Community Schools District special election fell short by 138 votes Tuesday, according to unofficial results, with nearly 60 percent of eligible voters submitting their votes on the bond proposal.
The average voter turn out for a traditional special election is 34 percent. Across the state, voter response to a mail-in special election averages 50 percent.
A total of 1,864 of the 3,131 ballots mailed out to the school district patrons were received by the Platte County Election Commissioner’s office. (At least 190 ballots were rejected due to addressing issues and other technical problems.)
The unofficial results reported were 863 (46 percent) for and 1,001 (54 percent) voting against the $9.8 million bond, which would have funded a new double track (two classrooms for each grade) K-8 elementary school and an addition to Lakeview High School for modern science classrooms.
Although the margin was much closer than the 633-435, 3-2 margin during the failed June 2006 special election for a $3 million junior high proposal, the Lakeview board of education president and district superintendent were still disappointed with the results.
John Wurdeman, board president, said he was hopeful the higher voter turnout would shift the results in favor of the bond proposal, but after seeing the final unofficial tally, he was dismayed.
“I am disappointed for the sake of the students, the staff and the administration,” Wurdeman said. “I thought with the higher voter turnout there would be a much better chance of it passing,” especially since the entire board expressed support for the proposal.
“Based on the people I talked to I thought it had a good chance of passing,” he said.
Superintendent Paul Calvert said he was surprised the bond failed.
“I thought we had a really good plan for the kids,” Calvert said. Looking at a number of other options, “this was the best option we had on the table.”
As for why the bond failed, both said they were unsure why a majority of the voters cast their ballots against the proposal, but they thought it was perhaps the $9.8 million price tag.
Dan Pabian, a vocal opponent who helped coordinate a campaign against the proposal, said one reason voters may have rejected the proposal is because there were better options out there or there was not enough information to support making such a significant investment.
Pabian said he and others are still seeking a stand-alone K-8 facility that would be constructed in the area of the current Sunrise Elementary School.
“It means the start of more headaches,” he said. “We are a long ways from done.”
Calvert said it is back to the drawing board and trying to formulate a “Band-Aid” approach to prepare for the 2009-10 school year.
“It will have to be some type of project where we have to work things out with available dollars we have,” he said. The board has $2 million in the building fund to work with.
As for a stand-alone K-8, “I don’t think we have enough money to do that either without a bond issue,” he said, and after two failed elections, “there is no guarantee that bond issue would pass, because many, including patrons from Sunrise, would vote against.”
Calvert said he plans to make a request of the board to meet prior to its March 17 regular meeting, since the clock is ticking and the board only has 16-18 months to come up with a solution to the overcrowding at Shell Creek Elementary School and relocation of the Sunrise students.
Wurdeman said no matter what direction the board points, it will only be a temporary solution until a permanent plan can be devised.
“At this point, as a board and as a district, we need to try to unite the district and look for another solution for the best education for the students of our district,” he said, but in the mean time, the interim plan looks to be “portables in some form at any or possibly all the attendance centers.”
Despite his disappointment, he said he wanted to thank the Lakeview Improvements for Future Education committee for disseminating the facts and getting the information out to patrons of the district.
The canvassing board is set to begin the official count at 10 a.m. at the courthouse today to make the results official.
Lakeview patrons vote ‘no’
By Adrian Sanchez asanchez@columbustelegram.com
Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008 - 11:36:29 am CST
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phreakwars
Feb 13, 2008 1:37 PM
My daughter will be disappointed. Last night was parent teacher conferences and while we were waiting for my sons teacher to finish up with another child's family my daughter was going on and on about the blueprints on display showing the new proposed school. All she could go on about was that her new class would be here, and her brothers is here and this is here and that is there... and so on and so on.. and then she asked me when they are going to make the new school... kinda hard to explain politics to a 7 year old. I won't knock the voters for turning it down, I also believe some voted it down because of a lack of information, which I wouldn't blame them because I was having a hard time finding any myself, even though I wasn't eligible to vote. PLATTE CENTER PATRON
Feb 13, 2008 1:46 PM
This is to Jill I never once said that the students from Sunrise where not welcome in Platte Center. I have said more than once to school board members when they said that if this bond did not pass that they would bring 75% of the sunrise students to Platte Center I told them that was great I have NO PROBLEM WITH ANY OF THE STUDENTS FROM SUNRISE COMMING TO PLATTE CENTER. I want are school to stay open I think that the kids get a better education at a small school. I am tired of people using the race word just because we did not want this double stacked k-8. We like our school, we have great teachers and our kids are doing great so why if the kids are getting a great education would you want to change it. I will agree that we do have teachers that are only teaching 6 kids and getting paid the same as the teachers teaching 20, all the school board has to do is change the bondarys and the would take care of some of that. We have asked for that and we get told they will think about it or wait till after the bond election. It should have been done long ago. So I think that it is time for the board to stop and listen and look at other ways of getting a new Sunrise built.jill
Feb 13, 2008 3:04 PM
PLATTE CENTER PATRON – Your school wasn’t going to close because of the new school???? Why vote against it??? If the tables were turned and your school was closing and your child(ren) then would need to be bussed clear east of town. Would you want the Sunrise patrons to vote against a new school for your children that would be closer to your home? past Lakeview student
Feb 13, 2008 3:41 PM
How sad! Another case of not moving forward. How many upcoming families or current students will change schools due to fear that the school will eventually go down hill? If you were worried your taxes would go through the roof, you were sadly mistaken. How much state tax will this school district miss out on when the student numbers start decreasing? Why not progress forward, take a chance, it's not like the school district was getting smaller, BUT I bet it will now! I hope this will eventually work out, because your going to lose students, tax dollars, & students are going to miss out on great teachers & experiences that only Lakeview can provide! Good luck Vikings & Viqueens, I would have voted for it! Fed up Sunrise Patron
Feb 13, 2008 6:11 PM
As a current Sunrise patron, I want to know how everyone got the idea that Sunrise wants a new school. Dan Pabian wasn't at the meetings last fall when we discussed as a group what our best option would be. We decided as a group that we wanted to be on-site at Lakeview in a double track K-8 building. Evidentally our wishes don't mean anything, because other people who don't have children in Sunrise are sure quick to voice their opinion. Platte Center people don't want their school to close, I can understand that. Were the Sunrise patrons asked for their permission before our school was sold? It would have been nice if everyone could have done what would have been beneficial for the district in the long run and moved forward before we are forced to address this issue again in a few years. We're running out of time, my children want to know where they will be going to school in September of 2009!Options?
Feb 13, 2008 11:19 PM
As I see it now, as parents of a Sunrise student, we have 2 options. 1. Drive our child 23.5 miles each way, or 2. Option our younger children into CPS. I really don't see that driving 47 miles each day as being an option, and which is also why I was in favor of building a school by the High School, so my older children could drop my younger children off when the school was completed. Now, it appears that because of this vote, I will have my 2 older children going to Lakeview, while my 2 younger children will need to go to CPS as I don't know what else to do. Thanks for all of you who voted against this to "protect" what is so precious to you personally without regard to the rest of us. For those of you asking for a stand alone in the Sunrise area, that's not what the majority of us want, and I wish there was someway for CPS to just take over this area and get this taken care of once and for all.PLATTE CENTER PATRON
Feb 14, 2008 10:02 AM
Platte Center is getting blamed for the bond not passing. There are 350 people that live in Platte Center and not all of them vote. There was 1001 people against the bond. That tells me there were people from Sunrise and Shell Creek that did not want the school either. Yes we want to keep our school. We have heard alot of diffrent things over the years and we do not trust the school board and what they say. Just because they said that they would not close Platte Center does not me that is what they intend on doing. I welcome the students from Sunrise to come to Platte Center and any from Shell Creek. I am getting tired of hear that this is all Platte Centers fault the the bond did not PASS. There were about 1200 people that did not vote. The board did not get the people convinced that this was a good thing. So lets face the facts there were more people in the district than just Platte Center that felt this was not a good idea. So lets stop blamming Platte Center for the whole thing.Patron
Feb 14, 2008 4:33 PM
I understand that Platte Center as far as population is a small number compared to the number of votes against the bond, but in a close community rumors or mistruths easily spread. Many older patrons just have to hear there taxes will rise and they will vote "no". This is regardless of what the issue. You start adding on mistruth and they have made up there mind. Once that happens you may never get them to see the real information. There were three public meetings held in the weeks leading up to the bond and at each meeting an average of maybe 40 people, so how anyone can say they had a difficult time getting information is hard to believe. I have heard a lot of naysayers say they don't want there children going to school with Sunrise children and that if the bonds passed it would be the beginning of the end of Platte Center school. Fear is a big motivator. Life is all about change. It is really upsetting that the children in the district will pay the price of adults fear.sunrise
Feb 14, 2008 8:34 PM
I heard that as a group discussion, "do not consider cost," well, now its $9.8 million, of couse you want a school by Lakeview, with no cost involved as a group! They sold our school with no plan, if they knew this last year voting, maybe they should plan another school north of highway. Smaller classes are alot better for the Students. Attendance should be more with a new Sunrise, Build it and see this area grow also. The area patrons will be here for a long time and paying taxes to support Lakeview High School for future growth. I rather pay a teacher mileage for school business then students driving. 
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