Facts don't add up on Neelyville plan

To the Editor

On April 3, the voters of the Neelyville School District will be asked to vote on an increased tax levy. If this increased tax levy is passed, it will be used to build additional buildings at the Neelyville campus and would mean the closing of Hillview Elementary School. This increased tax levy (.86) would make Neelyville the highest taxed school district in Southeast Missouri. The current tax levy is $2.78 and the increase, if passed, would make it $3.64.

The bonding company spokesperson has stated that only the people who own real estate will be affected by this tax levy, but it will affect every person who pays taxes regardless of whether it is real estate or personal property. If you own a vehicle you will pay an increase on your county taxes before you can get your vehicle license renewed.

The project architect has been quoted as saying that the buildings at Neelyville are structurally "some of the worst in the state, with two buildings beyond repair." I graduated from Neelyville in 1979, 32 years ago. All the buildings have been built since that time, except the Vocational Building, which currently houses the principal's office. In the school meeting that was held at Neelyville we were told that this building floods due to the fact that dirt has been pushed up around this building causing the building itself to be lower than the surrounding ground. This building was never intended to be a basement, so naturally it's going to flood. If the condition of the buildings is really that bad and these buildings are no more than 30 years old, does this mean when the new buildings are built and we pay off the tax in 30 years, the taxpayers will be faced with the same problem again?

According to the superintendent, the buildings at the Hillview campus are supposed to be unsafe because they are of metal construction, (one of them less than 10 years old). It seems funny that when they were constructed they were fine. Nothing was said about the oldest building at Hillview, which is a solid brick building. Are the buildings at the Neelyville campus in poor shape due to the fact that they sit in an area prone to flooding? The high school gymnasium has flooded twice in the last 10 years causing the hardwood floor to be replaced. When asked what was going to be done about the flooding problems in the area of the new school, we were told that Neelyville doesn't flood, and that the gym flooding was an act of God and both times it flooded it was one of the 100 year floods. How time flies! By the math I was taught at Neelyville years ago, twice in 10 years is 20 percent of the time! The building that houses the vocational class was built in a hole on the far East side of Neelyville campus. During the building site preparation, large amounts of riff-raff were placed in the middle of the site to try and fill in a hole. The board members were told at that time that the Building would not be stable there. Today that building has settled in the middle, right where the original hole was. The original school building was built on the highest point of ground in Neelyville. Our forefathers who decided to build a school in Neelyville knew that floodwater was a problem.

Children's safety was pointed out several times at the Neelyville meeting and I agree that safety should be at the top of the list when it comes to our children. The superintendent pointed out about the number of outside doors at both campuses which would present a safety issue. Fire codes require that there should be adequate numbers of doors exiting any building that houses children. These doors all have the ability to lock from the inside; preventing anyone from entering from the outside, allowing children inside to exit. Unsecured doors would then become the responsibility of the staff to be sure the doors were closed. I just got back from picking my daughter up from the Neelyville campus where I saw numerous doors propped open as parents were coming and going from these doors. What would stop someone from entering the school and doing harm to your child? It doesn't matter how secure you make your home, if you don't keep the doors locked, bars on the windows won't stop a thief. The Neelyville campus is located directly across the street from a public park where anyone can be. During the fall of 2011 an incident involving firearms occurred near the school and the school was locked down. Will a new school change this? Neelyville was once a growing town, with many businesses, two banks, a theatre and a railroad depot. The rich farm ground supported many people on small 40 acre farms. It is now farmed by fewer farmers with very large acreage and very large equipment. Neelyville's newest building is a Halfway House, refused by other surrounding towns, located one-half mile down the road from the school. Would any businessman build a $4,000,000 building at Neelyville?

Is there safety on a school bus? As a taxpayer who lives in the north half of the district my safety concerns would be the fact that a 4-year-old child will have to travel the roads for an hour and a half to attend school at the southern end of the district; where there is a halfway house just down the road; where shootings in the park could happen right across the street.

When asked about the current sewer system at Neelyville, the superintendent said he had talked with the city workers about this system and was told it was fine. The Department of Natural Resources, the ones who grant the permits for such a system, said Neelyville is currently under violation for ammonia levels. The fix for this problem is usually a complete upgrade of the system or a replacement. We were also told there is not enough ground to place the entire school at the Hillview campus (or even all the elementary). There is only six acres difference between the two locations. The person who owns the ground surrounding the Hillview campus has said he would be willing to sell any additional ground the school would need at the same cost he gave for the land. The current lagoon system at Hillview would not be large enough to accommodate the entire school or the entire elementary, but an engineer at a local engineering company who was familiar with the lagoon at Hillview, said the system could be increased to accommodate at least all the elementary school without spending a large amount of money.

It was stated that the Department of Transportation would not give the school any more accesses to Hillview, but when I contacted the Department of Transportation they said the school could have multiple entries off of Hwy. F, which would actually be safer. They also said the school could have flashing lights put up.

The center of the new architectural design of the proposed new school includes a safe room. This room will cost nearly one-third of the entire funds that will be made available by the tax increase. The plans are for part of the funding to come from a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); a grant the school district has been turned down for before. When asked if this grant was guaranteed, the answer was "no." They need a number of students at the Hillview School to qualify for this grant.

The voters have been told that building a new campus at Hillview is financially impossible, but when asked how far the $4.5 million would go towards a new campus at Hillview, the answer was that they hadn't checked on that. We were told that the money the railroad and the pipeline pay the district would only be there if the entire campus were at Neelyville, but that money is paid to the district regardless of where the individual schools are located.

The school board has tried to pass a tax levy increase in the past without success. Why don't they find out what the voters want before going to the expense of putting it on the ballot? They might find that the biggest concern is not the amount of the increase, but the location of the building project. Hillview is located in the middle of our district, on dry ground, with a safe area around it. It only makes sense to look at this location. There is no law that says Neelyville must update the school right now. If you have money today for an nice, new, shiny bicycle, but tomorrow, with careful planning, you could have a nice, new Cadillac, which one would you choose?

The ballot is worded pretty straight forward, with the exception of the statement which reads: "the expected closure of Hillview campus." This is to make you think that if yo don't vote for the increased tax levy, the district would lose the Hillview Campus. The fact is that if you vote "Yes" for the proposed increased tax levy, Hillview will be closed. If you don't go out and vote, it will be the same as voting yes, because the Majority of the votes Counted will determine the outcome. Please vote on April 3.

Let's provide our kids with a fine new Cadillac in their future, by giving them a good, safe education that is built on solid, dry ground, not boated in on a whim!

Greg Shands

Neelyville Class of 1979

Lifelong resident of Neelyville District

Local businessman for 25 years

Neelyville, Mo.