A proposal for a brand new high school building for the Winchester School District appears to be off the table.
Members of St. Louis-based marketing and research firm Creative Entourage Research presented the results of a community-wide survey conducted over the last two months to the Winchester School Board on Tuesday night.
The survey received 840 responses across the district. The survey graded perceptions of the school district, perceptions of the state of the high school building, perceptions of perceived costs to build a new building or renovate the current building, and any perceptions of current need for new construction.
According to an executive summary, about half of the respondents to the survey said that they had a positive view of the education provided by the district.
Approximately 74% of respondents said they could not afford a raise on property taxes no matter the cause in the county. Similarly, approximately the same amount said they would not support the building of a new facility. Meanwhile, another portion of the survey demonstrated that there was a perceived need for updates and/or there is a problem with the school’s current facilities. More than 40% said one of the biggest problems was that the current high school is not ADA compliant, while about 32% said that there was a general perception of need for improvement at the building.
The IHSA currently lists the high school enrollment for Winchester at around 175 students. Co-Op partner Bluffs School District has approximately 67 students. Respondents to the survey (41.4%) said that further talks between both districts need to occur for possible consolidation. The Bluffs School Board has regularly voted against consolidation efforts over the last two decades despite the two districts being a sports and education co-op for that same time frame.
Superintendent Kevin Blankenship says that the messages from the community forums that first introduced the possibility of building a new building and the messages from the survey show mixed sentiments: “We held these forums. We had one direction. I think with the survey results, the greater community wants us to put our focus elsewhere. Where that is – we are going to have to engage with the community and we are going to have to come up with different plans. I think that’s where the board is at. We will have our discussion on August 13th – but I think that’s what the board heard. What I heard was, if there is no support for a new building, it appears that there is support for at least some renovation. So, then we have to develop a plan on if we renovate, what do those renovations look like. I think that is where the board may be heading. They digested a lot of information [from the survey results]. They have to go back and think about a lot of things. There’s going to be some questions, and everything else. I think when we started this process, the board had a couple of different options. I think it was made clear with the survey results about what we need to be focusing on now, and that’s where the board will put its focus at this point.”
Blankenship says the main hurdle that lies ahead is outlining what a renovation plan to the current building looks like and what it will cost: “I think the survey results show that yes, there is some things that need to be done. I think in the greater sense, I think that’s where some of the disagreements come from. In just being a part of this and talking with a lot of different community members, I don’t think there is a consensus on what a renovation project looks like. I think it really comes down to if we renovate, there is going to be some disagreements on what should be prioritized. I think the board wants to get a good sense on what we think the priorities are, and generally, I think that’s where they want the community consensus as well. They don’t want to be saying ‘Hey, this is a priority’ when anybody doesn’t think so. They want to put together a package that says ‘Here’s what we deem as the priorities,’ we’re going to share that and get some feedback from the community, make some decisions and move forward from that point.”
Blankenship says that portions of that approach will be feted during their regular August 13th board meeting. The board officially has until August 16th to place any kind of referendum on the November General Election ballot for bonding issues. Otherwise, a bond referendum will have to wait until the April consolidated election cycle.