Chaffee district seeks bond issue for classrooms, property

CHAFFEE, Mo. — The Chaffee School District needs elementary classroom space and is asking voters April 4 to approve a $1.1 million bond issue to pay for the solution.

Voters are being asked to extend a bond issue; the measure would not increase the current tax rate.

The $1.1 million would pay for two modular classrooms, about $35,000 each, and renovate the old elementary-school gymnasium into three elementary school classrooms and storage space at the elementary.

The cost for the gym renovation has not been determined, superintendent Ken Latham said.

The graduating senior class at Chaffee High School is about 34 students, and most elementary-school classes, with all the students combined, have about 60 or 70 students, Latham said.

A view of outside the former Chaffee medical clinic Friday in Chaffee. A tax levy is proposed to demolish the building for future development. Andrew J. Whitaker

“We’re just out of space at the elementary even after adding two classrooms,” Latham said. “Everybody else is losing kids, and we’re gaining.”

The district is working on paperwork to acquire property containing the vacant Chaffee medical clinic just west of Chaffee High School, Latham said. The bond would pay for demolition of the clinic building, allowing the district a chance for future development.

“We’re landlocked; we don’t have any place else to go,” Latham said. “If somebody were to buy that property and say, ‘You can’t park over there for football and basketball games,’ I don’t know what we would do. We’ve parked over there the last 20 years, and nobody cares, because it’s pretty much been vacant.”

The bond also will pay for roof work at the elementary school; $243,000 was bid out in early December. Latham said the roof is sound for the next five to six years, but the school would not be able to hold another bond issue for 15 years.

In 2014, a $2.9 million bond issue added two safe elementary classrooms; expanded the shop at the high school; upgraded heating, ventilation and air conditioning at both schools; replaced the lighting at both schools; and replaced the high-school basketball and football bleachers.

If voters approve the bond issue, the district’s debt schedule would extend to 17 years, Latham said.

The district is not asking voters to approve a tax increase.

If there is money left over, the district would paint the interior of both buildings and maybe add electronic signs at both schools.

Latham said crowding at the elementary school would be a problem if voters did not pass the bond issue.

Scott County Central

Scott County Central School District is asking voters to approve a $1.75 million bond issue to replace classrooms at the high school where mold was found in January, as well as upgrading HVAC systems throughout the district.

The current HVAC system at the high school was built low to the ground, allowing moisture to be sucked into the system from the outside, creating a situation where mold can thrive, superintendent Alvin McFerren said.

The current mold count in the two classrooms is not at a dangerous level, McFerren said.

If voters reject the bond issue, McFerren plans to put it on the November ballot. The district is not asking for a tax increase, but an extension.

Pertinent address:

408 Elliott St., Chaffee, Mo.

Scott County Central High School, Sikeston, Mo.