South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Parent volunteers say voter approval of Prop G vital to Lindbergh’s success

‘Yes’ vote on Proposition G ‘a no-brainer,’ co-chair says

The co-chairs of a committee promoting Lindbergh Schools’ Proposition G bond issue believe passage of the measure is vital to the district’s continued academic success.

Voters will consider the $34 million bond issue to fund the construction of a new elementary school and improvements at Lindbergh High School when they go to the polls Tuesday, April 8.

Parents Jennifer Abercrombie and Dave Reinhardt, co-chairs of the Yes for Prop G committee, both served on the District Growth Committee that recommended the construction of a sixth elementary school to address Lindbergh’s aggressive enrollment growth.

As proposed, Prop G — for Growth — would increase the district’s debt-service tax rate by 21 cents, to 68.3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation from 47.3 cents. A four-sevenths majority — 57.14 percent — is required for passage of the measure.

From 2007-2008 to 2012-2013, the district’s residential enrollment increased by 569 students, and from 2013 to 2018, district officials project residential enrollment will increase by 464 students.

“… There’s projected growth, but we could fill a new elementary school (with students) as we stand today, just as things are,” Abercrombie said. “Four of our five (elementary) buildings are already well over capacity. Sappington (Elementary) is already going to move classrooms into storage rooms in the basement with no windows …”

For the current school year, Lindbergh’s official enrollment is 6,115 students, which exceeded the district’s projections by 50 students.

“I think what is critical for voters to know is that the information backing us is solid …,” Abercrombie said. “The enrollment and growth we’re seeing right now just doesn’t happen at the beginning of the school year. Concord, for example, has already enrolled over 20 students just since January …”

If voters approve Prop G, bonds totaling $34,035,000 would be issued by the district.

Of the bond proceeds, $23.9 million would fund the construction of a 650-student elementary school on the nearly 10-acre Dressel School site at 10255 Musick Road.

The district closed on the $1.94 million purchase of the property in July 2011.

For the past four years, Lindbergh has been ranked No. 1 in academic achievement among Missouri K-12 districts.

Passage of Prop G would allow the district to continue to provide students with the proper learning environment and small class sizes to maintain and enhance that academic achievement, the co-chairs said.

“… Numerous studies show that children are in a much better learning environment when the classroom sizes are small, and Lindbergh’s been able to maintain that as such right now,” Abercrombie said. “And I think that’s one of the reasons why the elementary schools are ranked so highly within the state …”

Reinhardt said, “I can’t emphasize to you … how much research we did on figuring out the right, realistic solution for addressing student growth in Lindbergh … We looked at all possible solutions, all options to address this rapid growth. We finalized it down to eight options after about 30 to 45 days, and then we went ahead and had unanimous support for the solution of building a new elementary school on the Dressel location.

“We definitely did our homework. We definitely looked at the facts, looked at the figures, looked at how this would affect the Lindbergh community and we decided to come up with the solution of putting this on the ballot to build a new elementary school …”

Of the enrollment growth, he added, “It’s a fantastic problem to have. Who doesn’t want more great families coming to the Lindbergh School District? … It’s a wonderful problem to have. Nevertheless, we need to accommodate all these great kids that are coming to our district, and we’re doing that by building a new state-of-the-art, technologically advanced elementary school that will house 650 kids …”

Besides funding the construction of a new elementary school, proceeds from the bond issue would fund some critical needs at Lindbergh High School, including doubling the size of the cafeteria, creating two science classrooms from existing classrooms, converting a record-storage room into two new classrooms, modernizing the library and replacing the wood floor and bleachers in Gymnasium 3.

The consequences if Prop G failed would be dire, the two said.

“… Obviously, classroom sizes would eventually have to increase. There would be no getting around that,” Abercrombie said. “In addition to that, we would lose library space, we would lose classrooms such as art and music. But as well, even our gymnasiums would potentially be divided because it’s really unlikely that you would put trailers in for elementary school students because of security and safety …”

“That is one of the impacts. But I think another impact that people need to recognize is the fact that Lindbergh Schools is the industry of our area. People aren’t moving here for jobs. They’re moving here because of the school (district) … If the Lindbergh School District begins to falter in its standings, I think you will see an impact in our real estate, as well …,” she added.

Abercrombie and Reinhardt noted that the 21-cent tax-rate increase is another example of Lindbergh’s longstanding philosophy of taking only what’s needed.

“… It is set literally right at the funds we need to have,” Abercrombie said. “We’re not asking for anything more than what we currently need … They’re asking for exactly what they need. They’ve done a lot of research into the plan.

“And having said that, I think it’s also affordable for each household,” she added, noting that Prop G would cost the owner of a $200,000 home roughly $6.65 per month — $79.80 per year.

Reinhardt said, “One of our Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, said, ‘An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.’ I cannot think of a better way to spend a few extra dollars a month, investing in my community’s children’s futures … It’s just a no-brainer to me. I feel so strongly about education and about kids’ futures that I think this is definitely the right thing to do.”

The two noted that Lindbergh’s current tax rate is the third lowest of the county’s 22 public school districts.

“Even if we get this increase, it will still place us at the fifth lowest out of all the St. Louis County school districts,” Abercrombie said.

The response to Prop G from residents and parents has been overwhelmingly positive, according to the co-chairs.

“… We do see widespread support. Nevertheless, we encourage all the ‘yes’ voters to get out there on Tuesday …,” Reinhardt said.

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