Approximately 100 people filled the circuit courtroom at the Warren County Courthouse Thursday evening for a forum on the Vicksburg Warren School District’s proposed bond referendum.

The forum included a presentation by Gary Bailey from Dale/Bailey Architecture, the consulting company working on the facilities project. A panel including superintendent Chad Shealy, board members Bryan Pratt, Joe Loviza, Alonzo Stevens and Jim Stirgus Jr. then took questions from the audience.

VWSD is asking the community to approve an $83 million bond referendum March 27 as part of a $131 million facility plan.

If passed, the bond referendum will add $79 to the property tax bill of a home valued at $100,000 according to the district.

According to VWSD communications director Christi Kilroy, this is the first time the district has held a bond referendum since 1966, when it was hosted by the county school system and used in part to construct Building B at Warren Central.

“They have tried to keep up the best they could out of operating dollars,” Bailey said. “Taking money that is regularly scheduled to run schools and have had to put band-aids on schools over the years instead of looking at large capital projects. You have had a race of all these things adding up and they have reached a point where if you don’t fix them; you’re almost to a point of no return.”

Questions from the audience included what is wrong with the current system of making small repairs each year without requiring a tax increase and why hasn’t the maintenance been done over the years.

Bailey, who has worked with more than 100 school districts through the state, said the types of repairs and expansions needed are not possible within the operating budget.

The proposed plan calls for work to be done at every school in the district including major renovations and expansions at the two high schools, mechanical upgrades at many of the schools and the construction of a new Academy of Innovation. The proposal also includes considerable upgrades to the athletic facilities in the district.

“If those rusted windows and leaking roofs are acceptable for your children then you can make that decision,” Bailey said. “You cannot maintain major capital facilities with an operating budget. You will run out of money. We waited too long and now are spending more money to fix things that could have been fixed with a bond issue years ago. That is why it is a major amount.”

Community members also raised concerns about the district investing money into facilities while remaining a D-rated school district.

“We would be a C district if it hadn’t been moved,” Pratt said.  “Our schools are improving. We need to have facilities that also match the types of programs and changes we are making. These academies are part of that and that is why we are asking the voters to help with that.”

The expansions to the high schools call for designated areas for the new career academies the district has instituted as part of the plan to raise graduation rates and keep students interested in school.

“The biggest impact these facilities are going to have is they are going to have an impact on the ability to employ people in this city,” Shealy said. “The purpose of these buildings and facilities is to build a model where our industries can operate inside our school district and our students can graduate with strategies.”

Bailey also discussed the safety upgrades that will be implemented throughout the district under this plan. It will include redesigning entrances to create single entrances to schools, upgrades to intercom systems, fire alarms that automatically notify emergency departments and more.

“A large dollar amount is being used on school safety,” Bailey said. “It is not just glamorous front doors. It is a safe, secure vestibule. It is administrative areas that have observation and it is bulletproof glass in some areas. There are a lot of dollars being done on access control for all of your doors that you can control and know when they are opened and closed. I could talk to you for a long time about safety measures that will be implemented.”