By Chad Koenen

Publisher

With a crisp to the morning air and dew on the grass, all signs are pointing to fall being on the horizon. Next week summer vacation will officially come to an end for New York Mills students as large yellow school busses will once again be pulling up to their front door and students will be heading back to school.

School officially starts at NY Mills School on Tuesday, Sept. 1, but before the first day of school, the district will be hosting its annual open house on Wednesday, Aug. 26 to allow students and families the opportunity to meet teachers, see their room and get ready for the upcoming school year. The open house will be from 4-6 p.m. and food trucks will be on hand for dinner and Close Up is hosting several activities for students following the open house.

“It’s always nice to see them on the first day,” said NY Mills School Superintendent Adam Johnson of the students. “For the kindergarten it is their first, first day and for the seniors it is their last first day. It is always fun seeing the difference.”

With steady class sizes and plenty to offer students in terms of extra curricular activities that are not commonly found at smaller schools, Johnson said there is plenty of reasons for families to select NY Mills School for school.

“We are a small school that really offers a lot for our students. Everybody can find their home here,” he said.

Johnson the staff at NY Mills School is second to none and genuinely care about the students they see on a daily basis.

“Our teaching staff, our entire staff, is incredible. You look at what our staff does for kids and it is second to none,” he said. “As superintendent I know the kids. I know who they are and I know I can talk to them and that doesn’t happen in every school. The teachers and staff know the students and they really get to know them.”

As families prepare for the start of the school year, one change at the school district this fall is the new activities calendar. The school district, like many schools in the area, is switching its activity schedules to Bound. The new website will eventually be the home to not only athletic and school events, but also facilities at the school as a whole. The plan is to utilize the new website to inform parents and the public of everything from elementary to varsity practices, but community events going on at the school.

“It is the one place stop for all of that,” said Johnson. 

In addition to the first day of school, the NY Mills School District has been abuzz with anticipation of a potential building levy that could shape the school district for another generation. The three-part question totals just over $30 million and would include everything from maintenance to enhancing classrooms, a new fitness room and much more that could benefit the everyday lives of students.

The main crux of the project is the first question, which must pass before either the second or third question can be implemented. 

The first question mainly revolves around needed updates to the school for things like making some of the bathrooms ADA compliant, addressing drainage issues at the school and focusing more on the educational aspect of the school day for students. Whether the referendum passes or not, Johnson said many of these issues will eventually need to be addressed, but the school district is hoping to take on the projects all at once in order to make the best use for tax dollars, while also focusing on what is best for students.

“Eventually we are going to have to do something and we are just looking at it as this is what is best for kids,” he said.

As part of the first question, which has a cost of $22,500,000, the school district will touch a number of classrooms and drainage issues. Among the projects will be construction and equipping of a band and choir suite; construction and renovation to physical education space, fitness room and wrestling rooms; renovation and construction of career and technical education (CTE) spaces; construction and equipping of new classrooms; repurposing and remodeling of existing classrooms and spaces for educational needs; renovations and updates to the administrative office areas, including construction of secure entrances; renovation and equipping of the existing kitchen, concession stand, and restrooms; and addressing deferred capital maintenance including, but not limited to, flooring, main gym sound system, building envelope, water drainage and parking lot improvements.

While the district maintains that the project behind Question 1 is necessary at this stage to continue to grow and operate efficiently and effectively, Questions 2 and 3 are additional updates specifically mentioned and sought out by community members, but which the district does not feel are absolutely essential to implement at this time.

“They would be awesome things for our kids, but we didn’t want to ask for $30 million (with one question),” he said. 

Question 2 proposes updating the high school media center, changing the space into a commons area for students. This project along with the other two, is being pursued to have the lowest cost to taxpayers. Currently Question 2 would cost an additional $2.6 million.

Question 3 is another suggestion from the community of a new track which, because of several challenges with the current football field, would likely need to be shuffled around and implemented with a new football complex on the school’s campus. Space becomes a problem at the current football field when implementing a new track, so the thought would be to implement this project next to the school building. This project is slated to cost $5.5 million.

“Right now the track we have at the football field is measured in yards and not meters, so even if we pave it we couldn’t compete on it,” said Johnson. 

By moving the track and football field to a spot behind the school that is currently occupied by a baseball and softball field, the school district could utilize the facility as part of the school day on a more regular basis as well. 

One thing to note about this potential tax referendum is that it will be the first voter-approved building referendum since 2000 when the auditorium was added on to the school. There have been some smaller projects such as the parking lot that were paid for by tax funding, but nothing on this large a scale or which needed a vote from the public for 26 years.

“So if we do one every 25 years I think we are doing pretty good,” said Johnson. 

Voters will have a choice between what, if any, of the projects it would like to see implemented in November. If the first question fails the second and third questions cannot be implemented, even if voters approve them. However, voters could approve the first and second questions, or the first and third questions, and only those would be implemented. All three questions could also come to fruition if approved by a majority of school district voters. 

In order to help inform the public and governing bodies about the project as a whole, Johnson is planning to meet with each township and the NY Mills City Council to inform those in attendance about the project and answer any questions. He is also planning to host an open house on September 30 to speak with taxpayers and potential voters to answer questions and address any concerns leading up to the November election. 

In addition to meeting with the public, a new website located at www.eaglesforward.org will have a tax calculator, information about the project as a whole and background on how the school district arrived at the current project.

Johnson reiterated that a lot of work and input has been put into the project and he is hopeful that if the building referendum passes in November it will leave the school district in good shape to educate the next generation of Eagles that come to the school.