Letter to the Editor: Johnston Area Education Association Backs Bond Election

On September 11th, our community will be going to the polls to make a very important decision regarding the future direction of education in our district. The Johnston Community School District is seeking your support for a bond referendum that will enable our community to build a new high school and make other facility improvements in order to accommodate the projected growth in student enrollment that will occur in our district over the next several years.

The proposal calls for the following:

• A new 10-12 high school to house 1,800 students, featuring flexible spaces for student-centered collaborative learning, professional work areas for staff, and a more ecologically-friendly design.
• Renovations to the existing high school to house 1,450 8th and 9th grade students
• Significant renovation of the current 8/9 middle school to house approximately 1,000 preschool and elementary students.
• Outdoor athletic and district fiber optics improvements.
• Renovation of the existing Wallace Elementary to meet district needs.

As many of you know, the decision to propose the building of a new high school was not a hasty process. This decision was arrived at after 18 months of intensive study and countless meetings involving many district stakeholders, creating a long-term and sustainable vision for the future of education in this district. As a result of these meetings, our community members presented a petition containing 1,021 signatures to our school board in support of holding the special election for the bond referendum. Only 525 signatures were required.

The need for these facility improvements to accommodate growth is clear. Johnston is one of top 5 fastest-growing school districts in the state of Iowa. Overcrowding has already begun to be a concern in many of our buildings. Clearly, our district needs to be proactive in planning for the future growth in student enrollment so that our students can be in an environment that is the most conducive to learning. If this bond referendum should fail, we could be looking at a much less ideal scenario of increasing the number of modular classrooms in our district to accommodate the growth.

This funding will also help our schools upgrade their technological capacities. It’s amazing to think that as little as 5 years ago, the concept of tablet computer was a novel one for most people. This year, our high school will begin its 1:1 iPad initiative. Clearly, the rate of technological advancement is accelerating rapidly. As such, the design of our school buildings must keep pace. A vote in favor of this bond referendum will help ensure that our district is able to continue to put the most cutting-edge technology and networking capabilities in the hands of our students, modernizing our district’s technological infrastructure and keeping our students more globally competitive in the 21st century.

Our community has always prided ourselves on its educational excellence. The “quality of the schools” is a primary reason that many young families move into the Johnston Community School District. When our students graduate, they are among the best prepared in the nation for postsecondary success. Building these facilities will enable our district to continue its tradition of educational excellence by providing needed flexibility and the ability to accommodate for emerging needs in the 21st century. As educators, we feel there is no better investment we can make in our community than to secure the promise of a world-class, high quality education for our students and future community members.

Already, our district has held several public information sessions so that community stakeholders can learn more about the proposed facility plans and why they are needed in our district. There is one final session that will be held on September 6th at 7 p.m. at the Johnston Middle School Auditorium. We encourage anyone with lingering questions about the bond referendum or proposed facilities plan to attend this final informational session.

In closing, we are encouraging voters in the district to vote in favor of the proposed bond referendum on September 11th.

Sincerely,

Brad Hurst and Carson Hattel
Co-Presidents of the Johnston Education Association

About the Johnston Education Association (JEA)

The Johnston Education Association (JEA) is the professional organization representing teachers, nurses and counselors in the Johnston Community School District. The professional organization is the sole bargaining agent for this group and helps members in other areas such as teacher rights, professional development, legal assistance, government relations issues, and much more. Members who belong to JEA also belong to the National Education Association (NEA), Iowa State Education Association (ISEA), and Polk Suburban UniServ Unit (Regional office).