Superintendent's Message for January 2019

Happy New Year!  As we welcome in 2019, things are moving in a positive direction at Southwest Valley Schools.  We have many things on the horizon as we plan to upgrade and improve our facilities to better serve our students in the future. 
In mid-November, I had our architects conduct a study of our facilities in Villisca when our HVAC system failed to work in the eastern part of the middle school.  The study was done on both Sylvia Enarson elementary and SWV middle school buildings.  Several things were found in both buildings.  The Enarson building is an older building and has served the Villisca district for many years.  The HVAC, plumbing, fire alert system, electrical, and roof were all listed as areas of concern.  In the middle school, the same areas were listed.  The middle school was built in 2000, and has been a great building for the past 18 school years, but with any commercial building of this age, improvements and upgrades are needed.  The Villisca board members will be circulating a bond referendum petition in the month of January to ask the Villisca patrons permission to issue 6.05 million dollars in bonds.  The proceeds of the sale of bonds will be used to repair, improve, and equip the two buildings so they may serve our students for the future.  The bond referendum would not increase taxes and may be slightly lower than the 10-year average of 15.90 per $1,000 assessed valued.  The tax rate this year decreased because of declining enrollment from a year ago and paying off the remaining debt on the middle school building.  We are committed to keeping the tax rate steady and passing this bond referendum will not only accomplish this, but will also allow us to continue to serve the SWV district’s middle school students and elementary students. 
The Corning board of directors are working on plans to demolish the old middle school building and create more parking for the Activity Center.  They are also working on drainage and improvements at the high school baseball facility.  The left field area has a drainage problem and we are working with our architects to resolve this issue and make improvements with the fencing at the complex.  The cost of this work will be paid for with proceeds from the district’s SAVE fund.  The Secure and Advanced Vision for Education fund is funded through the one cent sales tax.  This legislation is set to expire in 2029 and the legislators will seek to pass an extension this year, so Iowa schools can continue to have this fund moving forward.  
In conclusion, it is very important that we get these projects underway as soon as possible to ensure our students have safe and useable facilities.  We will be hosting meetings in the coming months and I encourage you to stop in and visit with the Superintendent, if you have any questions on any of these projects.  Have a great January!