CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH SUPT. SARA CROMEY
Voters in the district turned down another bond proposal Tuesday, extending a repeated string of losses at the ballot box that dates back to 2023. This time, it was a $48 million request to make major building repairs and to close K.I. Sawyer Elementary School.
The vote was 1,649 no to 1,147 yes, or a 59-percent to 41-percent loss.
Gwinn Superintendent Dr. Sara Cromey was disappointed yet again.
“I am at a loss on what more we need to do in order to communicate the need,” Cromey told RRN News late Tuesday night. “Some people may say, you communicated well, and we just can’t afford it, and that’s why we voted the way we did. I do know that some of the concerns for K.I., is that they have a large population of elementary students, and they don’t want their children on the bus, even for 30 minutes (to Gwinn). The don’t want that school to close.”
Cromey says they did multiple in-person presentations, social media posts, had student ambassadors, and sent old-fashioned fliers in the mail. But none of it worked on electorate that has repeatedly turned down requests for more money.
“The sad thing is we really thought we did a better job of communicating,” Cromey said. “but we’ll find that out in the next days as we continue to listen to our public, and listen to their concerns. Maybe we propose an idea of leaving both elementaries open (in another bond request). But we can’t let go of the need for the middle school/high school repairs, because there’s just too many.”
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