Survey on construction projects to hit mailboxes in October

Superintendent, Jeff Wright gave the board an update on the school perceptions draft survey on potential construction projects. The school district worked with Wisconsin based company, School Perceptions, who help with community and school based surveys to gauge community support and feelings for change that needs to happen in the district or referendum for construction spending. “We contracted with them to help us gauge the community’s feelings on investing in our high school, Merrimac and our community’s athletic and recreation facilities,” said Wright. “And what cost tolerance there is in increasing taxes in order to pay for those improvements.” There will be a letter from Wright in the community activities magazine that is coming out the week before that talks about the survey. The survey should arrive in mailboxes the week of Oct. 14, 2019. There will also be community listening sessions scheduled in October with dates and times. These will be listed on the survey. The survey can be mailed in, dropped off at any office in the district or filled out online with a special individualized code. Student families and staff will also receive the survey through a code that will be emailed to them. Families can also request a second code if there are two adult members in the household that want to take the survey. There is also a staff member who can help assist those who speak Spanish. The survey will ask questions about the overall planning, project details as well as the mill rate. There will also be questions about naming rights or going to the community for fundraising opportunities. The potential cost of the plans is around $65 million with a potential raise of eighty cents to the mill rate, which works out to an average cost of $160-$240 a year on a house that is worth $200,000-$300,000. The survey will be due by Nov. 4, 2019.