A community-engagement program launched more than a year ago by the Mehlville School District will conclude next week with the presentation of a final report and recommendations during its last session.

The final community-engagement session for COMPASS — Charting the Oakville-Mehlville Path to Advance Successful Schools — will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, June 2, at Bernard Middle School, 1054 Forder Road.

Dan Fowler and Jim Schibig, co-chairs of the COMPASS Facilitating Team, will present a Long-Range Master Plan and Guiding Principles created by participants in the community-engagement program. The Facilitating Team was charged with formulating residents’ concerns and suggestions for the district’s future into a long-range plan that will be presented to the Board of Education next month.

The long-range plan includes such programs and services as all-day kindergarten, early childhood expansion, English Language Learner teachers, counselors and elementary remedial reading teachers and boosting staff salaries so they would “become equal to the county average.”

Also proposed are technology improvements, safety and security enhancements and the replacement of buses.

Funding options being recommended to the Board of Education include two ballot measures for November, but the COMPASS proposal states, “Obviously, determining the specifics for funding is a decision of the Board of Education.”

One proposed ballot measure would transfer 31 cents from the district’s debt-service fund to the operating fund.

The transfer would generate roughly $5.7 million annually. Mehlville’s overall tax rate would not increase, but the transfer would extend the district’s bonded indebtedness by 15 years.

A second proposed ballot measure would be a 37-cent tax-rate increase to help fund the long-range plan that incorporates suggestions from those who participated in the community-engagement sessions.

The proposed 37-cent tax-rate increase would restore the district’s tax rate to its 2006 level as the district’s total tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation would jump to roughly $3.64 from $3.27. A 37-cent tax-rate increase for an owner of a $200,000 home would result in an additional cost of $140.60 per year or $11.71 per month.

As proposed, the 37-cent tax-rate increase would be the first of four phases of elections to fund the long-range plan. The district also would ask voters in November elections in 2010, 2012 and 2014 to maintain the district’s operating levy by waiving the district’s estimated 8-cent tax-levy rollback in each of those years.

But given the current political climate and economy, Fowler told the Call that’s it’s unlikely the Board of Education would place the 37-cent tax-rate on the November ballot.

“We were asked to bring a plan back and based on discussions with the Board of Education and the superintendent (Terry Noble), that probably is not going to happen right away,” he said. “I think the only thing that the community can expect for sure is a transfer of levy, and I think that that’s a pretty sure thing. In fact, I’m absolute about that. That will be on the ballot in November, but I do not believe at this point that we will see a ballot measure to restore the tax rate back to the 2006 level because it’s just not realistic right now. That is a recommendation regarding funding, but that’s not going to happen.

“Obviously, a lot of events have transpired since we put that recommendation together. Sometimes from a political point of view you either can or can’t do some things and right now is not a good time to put a 37-cent tax-rate increase on the ballot for a variety of issues. I think the Mehlville School District has to do a better job with communications, and I think we also have an economy that’s got a lot of our folks stretched. While it is not realistic to place the 37 cents on the ballot right now, that does not mean that plan should not be implemented. We do fully expect the Board of Education to put the restore measure on the ballot sometime in 2009,” he added.

During a May 22 Facilitating Team meeting, members discussed what initially were called COMPASS Statements of Recommendation, but were renamed Guiding Principles. Those nine principles run the gamut from emphasizing improved student performance to the district striving to be on par in per-student expenditure with other high-performing school districts.

Facilitating Team member Paul Goldak said, “Looking at the statements of recommendation with maybe the exception of No. 5 — ‘District technology is inadequate.’ That might be a judgment call, but everything else is principle. ‘Improved student performance.’ Who can deny that improved student performance is bad? Quality education, adequate staffing. These things are — I can’t imagine anyone saying: ‘No, I don’t agree with that, those statements of recommendation.’

“What someone might disagree with is how you implement those recommendations, and I think one of the important things that you guys (Fowler and Schibig) will have to do in the presentation is say: We’re not saying — we COMPASS are not saying that you need to do this thing or do that thing … the community said. Now we might be open to criticism for saying: Yeah, but you fed us this type of stuff. Well, we fed you options, and I can’t think of any meeting where we didn’t say: You can gain this amount of benefit by doing Step A. You can get more benefit by doing Step B. You can get more benefit by doing Step C. Which would you like to do?

“And the people that were at the meetings chose their preference and there was a lot of spirited discussion … So I think the thing that we need to make sure we impress on people is you can’t hardly disagree with the recommendations. If you think you want to disagree with the implementation of those recommendations, then you go back to the meeting minutes and say: The community — the hundreds of people that sat in those chairs are the ones that made the specific implementation steps or recommendations.

“And that’s who says we should be doing these things. That’s who says we need a full-day kindergarten. That’s who said we need buses replaced. And I really think you need to hit that hard because it’s not us …”

Facilitating Team member Sandy Jacobs interjected, “Right. We were the facilitators and the community was the driving force.”

Goldak said, “… People can say: ‘Well, you only had 150 people at the meeting — not 10,000.’ Well, I wish we had … If there’s a criticism on any specific implementation step, then it can be a criticism of the people that made that recommendation at the meeting and someone else may want to criticize them, but we’re not …”

Fowler said, “But what’s interesting is that we vocally and openly asked our critics to come to these meetings. Whether they came or not was up to them, but I find it difficult for a critic to criticize us when they didn’t attend any of the meetings.

“They had an opportunity to come and participate and some chose not to and yet want to criticize the process.”