Says school has not made a compelling case for project

Vox Pop

Much information has been presented and I’m certain will continue to be presented about the redo vote from last November concerning the $40 million Medford High School spending referendum. There are some points the School District and The Star News (who is actively shilling for the project) are not bringing up. Let’s examine some of those items.

An article in the March 4, 2021 edition of The Star News stated that the High School is taking a band-aid approach to repairing leaky pipes. But the School District twice provided money to the agricultural barn (when they initially said they would provide no funds for the project) and magically came up with over $400,000 to purchase land adjacent to the high school and elementary school. It would seem to me that if the School District has funds for the two projects previously mentioned, they can do more than merely apply piano wire and chewing gum to their leaky pipes.

It is stated that “Educational Spaces & Classroom Improvements” will cost $29.3 million in the referendum. Included in that is the (cough, cough) gymnasium and theater. Those items are lumped in with more worthy science, technology engineering art/agriculture and math classroom upgrades. The cost of the (cough, cough) gymnasium and theater are $8 million and $8.5 million respectively. I thought that athletics and forensic programs were considered extracurricular activities. So to say that $29.3 million is being spent on “Educational Spaces & Classroom Improvements” is disingenuous.

The referendum as proposed would considerably increase the square footage of the high school building. There has been no mention of how much that will increase the cost of operating the school each year. That is vital information that needs to be presented to the voters.

There also is $1.7 million of spending for the cafeteria and commons area. Seems like a lot of money for a lunch room.

Keep in mind the ads you have been seeing in The Star News and The Star News Shopper concerning the referendum have been prepared and paid for by the Medford School District. My dad always used to say, You got to show you’re right.” As far as the $40 million Medford High School referendum is concerned, the Medford School District has not made a compelling case.

— Bryan Bormann, Medford