Over the last eight weeks DeLeon ISD Superintendent Dr. Randy Mohundro has been answering a variety of questions concerning the upcoming school bond election which will be held this Saturday, May 12. In the final set of questions, Dr. Mohundro attempts to answer the last minute questions that have arisen. He also gives his final thoughts on the bond issue to close-out the series. It is noted that answers to these questions will be brief, so that as many of the questions as possible can be answered.

“Why are you closing the cafeteria at middle school and making middle school students share a cafeteria with high school?”

Cost. To run two cafeterias side-by-side is very expensive from the aspect of equipment, utilities, and personnel cost in particular. As far as sharing, that has been going on for many years. There are currently three different lunch periods for the middle school and high school and that will not change with the new building.

“How can a new building draw more people to DeLeon when there are no jobs?”

DeLeon has partially become a bedroom community. While many people live and work here, the reality is that more and more people are looking to move out into the rural areas to live, while they work somewhere else. It is not uncommon for people to live in DeLeon and work in Stephenville, Brownwood, Weatherford, or even Ft.Worth. People want to raise their children in a small community where there are good schools. If we do not have good schools, then we will not get people that are looking to move into our area to come and buy property and live here. We compete for students. We compete with Dublin, Comanche, Gorman, and other surrounding areas. Parents that find a good school for their children will drive to their work. We have lots of commuter parents now and that number will go up. Jobs in DeLeon will not necessarily draw people to DeLeon, but quality schools will draw people to live here and raise their children here.

“Why have new facilities when we don’t respect what we have now?”

If I give you a ragged shirt to wear or a ragged car to drive or a house that is falling down around you to live in, your attitude about taking care of what you have been given is not going to be very good. If give you a new shirt, car, or house then you are going to work hard to take care of it because you will be proud of it and will want to make sure that it continues to look new for years to come. Human nature tells us that when people that are given something that is broken and worn-out they have less respect for that item. How can we expect any different from students than what we do of ourselves? In defense of our students they live to the expectations that we, the community, set for them, our students have done an admirable job of taking care of the facility that has been provided to them.

“Why move fifth graders who are not socially or emotionally ready to be in middle school?”

The plan is not to simply move fifth graders to the middle school and put them into classrooms or hallways with eighth graders. What is being called for is to take the existing middle school and create two different campuses in the same building. One section of the building where students in fifth and sixth grade will share classrooms, teachers, and restrooms and another section where seventh and eighth graders will share classrooms, teachers, and restrooms. It will not be a building where all four grades are intermingled and mixed every day. Currently all three grades in the middle school are around each other a lot, with sixth graders having classes all over the building. The new configuration will change that and provide an intermediate school that is more socially and emotionally appropriate for students in fifth and sixth grade.

“How can your taxes not go up?”

I cannot guarantee that your taxes will not go up. I can guarantee that this project calls for your total school tax rate to go down.

The school board does not control what value is placed on your property or on my property. That responsibility is placed on the local appraisal district, which must answer to the state. If accurate property values are not placed on real property, then the appraisal district can be taken over by the State Comptroller’s Office. Schools also lose state money if the local appraisal district does not do what the state tells them to by keeping property values as close as possible to what the market price for real estate is.

Even as values rise, the school board will only assess a debt tax rate that is high enough to generate enough local monies as are necessary to keep state money flowing, to help pay for the new facilities.

“We are rushing into a bond election with many questions and no answers.”

The discussion on school facilities began back in June of last year. The original discussion with the Board began with the idea of doing some remodeling of the high school. That led to a discussion concerning wasting taxpayers’ money on an old facility that might need to be replaced. A citizens committee was formed that met and toured the district facilities and made recommendations to the Board, which included a professional study of the district’s facilities. Once that study was completed, the Board began meeting to decide what needed to be done, which ultimately led to calling for a bond election at the beginning of March.

The problem of the district’s facilities has been on the table since June of 2006. Articles have been written for the local newspaper and meetings held since July of 2006 on the issue. Every idea that has surfaced has been pursued. Any question that has been asked has been given an honest answer.

“Our buildings are in compliance with state standards. Standards are not an issue unless we remodel”

No, our buildings are not in compliance with state standards. They are too small and do not meet the minimum size requirements that have been set by the Texas Education Agency. If we do nothing, then we will have to make sure that our class sizes stay very small to stay within the allotted standards of required square footage per student. That means smaller classes, which means more teachers, high personnel cost, and higher operational cost.

Our buildings do not meet safety and handicapped accessibility standards. Inspections done by certain state agencies can result in fines being accessed against the district if required corrections are not made. If enough serious safety issues are found, by the state fire marshal for example, then a building can be closed or condemned due to posing an eminent danger to human life. Does this happen? Yes, and Comanche High School is an example of when it has occurred.

“There is no long range plan”

The facility master plan that has been created by the district’s architect is what is being followed. The citizen’s facility committee recommended that a long range plan be drawn-up by professionals and the Board followed that advice. That plan is what is being followed.

“You are replacing a building that is 50 years old – many buildings at colleges are 50 years old and many of the houses that we live in are 50 years old.”

Colleges and universities that have 50 year old buildings have normally spent many dollars to constantly update those buildings to keep them compliant with the many codes that are required. Typically they spend more money to remodel than it would cost to replace it with a new structure. They do not simply continue using the building without making major improvements. Even if you live in a house for 50 years, it will have been remodeled and updated over the years or you wouldn’t be living in it today.

“What will the building look like?”

The outside of the building will be designed to coordinate with the two gymnasiums. It is the goal of the district to make all of the new facilities compliment and blend in with the existing structures. The buildings will be brick buildings, built to commercial standards and all required codes. They will not be prefab buildings.

“Why is there just one choice? Why are we not voting on just a high school?”

When the district received the cost estimates for the facility master plan, the costs to construct a new high school were actually lower than anticipated. The Board also was able to stretch dollars when they decided to build on the existing high school site. Rather than leaving the problems at the other campuses to deal with later, the Board thought it better to address as many needs as possible, for all age groups. The Board is simply trying to stretch the dollars as far as they possibly can.

“What happens when the administration moves on and ‘sticks us’ with the mistakes they have made?”

I wish that I had all of the power that people think that I have as a Superintendent. No decisions about facilities can be made without the Board of Trustees, which are elected by the voters of the school district, approving those decisions by a majority vote. The Superintendent cannot go down to the local bank and borrow money, and then go out and build whatever he/she wants to. All decisions on facility construction are made with the approval of the Board of Trustees.

I have been accused of many things as this issue has been discussed. However, the proof of my record as a Superintendent can be verified and has been verified by this Board. If you want to see the verification, please come to my office and I will provide it to you. But I can assure you that this Board watches every move of this Superintendent, as they should with any Superintendent, to make sure that I am doing my job correctly and to their satisfaction.

“The opposition to the bond issue has suddenly come up with a lot of questions at the last minute. How do you respond to them and what are your final thoughts on the bond issue?”

Let me first say that I did not go out looking for this bond issue, but rather I was directed by the Board of Trustees to pursue all angles on the issue of the district’s facilities, then brought all of the information back to them for discussion and for them to make a decision. The decision to build is not mine, but is a corporate decision of the Board of Trustees. The reality is that I am the spokesperson for the district and this issue, and I have strived to provide complete, unbiased information so that the voters can make an informed decision.

It is interesting that opposition at the end is very typical in this type of situation. People that want to raise last minute issues are the very people that do not have any solutions for the problems that are being faced by the community. Rather they shoot down any solution that is presented. They are also the same people that do not get involved in the discussions so that their concerns can be addressed. Often times they do not want to hear answers, they just want to shout out more questions so that no answers can be provided. They are choosing to exacerbate the problems we are faced with, rather than trying to help come together and solve the problems.

I recognize the fact that I am considered to be a paid public official, therefore I am limited in what I can say in regards to YES or NO on the bond issue. I can tell you that I am a parent of two children that go to school in DeLeon and who plan on graduating from this district. I am also a property owner who has invested my own time and money into this community, and I pay taxes. I am vested into this community and I am involved in this community. My family is vested and involved in this community. What happens to DeLeon does affect me professionally, but more importantly, personally because it affects my children. My wife and I have chosen to make this our home and in future years our children will say they are from DeLeon, Texas.