The Susanville School District Board of Trustees approved a first reading of a bond measure at its Wednesday, May 21 meeting in order to meet the requirements of putting the bond before the voters on the November ballot. The proposed bond measure, if approved by a super majority of 55 percent of the district’s registered voters, would provide funding not only for the renovation or rebuilding of Diamond View School but also would fund the much needed modernization of its other two campuses — Meadow View School and McKinley School.

The amount sought by the bond has not yet been determined, but the funding is necessary if the district is to complete the needed improvements at its three campuses.

“We can only get the job done if we pass a bond,” said Gary McIntire, the district’s superintendent.

He said if the board doesn’t get the measure on the ballot for the November election, its next opportunity to present another bond measure to the voters would be in 2010.

In his report to the board, McIntire recognized the community has not supported the district’s bond measures in the past.

“Our district has twice before sought the support of our community to authorize the issuance of school bonds to provide us with the funds to make the kinds of improvements to our school facilities that we desperately need,” McIntire wrote. “We have not been successful in either of our previous attempts to pass a school bond.”

Passage of the bond measure is especially critical for the district with the closure of Diamond View School and the relocation of its students to the Meadow View School next year.

Diamond View students continue to attend the school through the end of this school year thanks to emergency measures such as reconfiguring the multipurpose room as classrooms.

McIntire presented a draft proposal to the trustees, and said he was working with an attorney and a bond consultant to get the paperwork for the bond in order so it could be submitted to the registrar of voters in August to be included on the ballot in November.

In order to meet those deadlines, the board must approve the bond resolution by a two-thirds vote at its June meeting. The district’s regular June meeting was scheduled for Monday, June 30.

McIntire told the board he would have a “clear description of the project” ready by next month. He said an architect would be visiting the school sites in early June to review the district’s needs.

He also noted the district could not spend any public money on the campaign to pass the bond measure.

New principals
The trustees also hired two new principals for the district’s schools.

Vicky Leitaker will succeed Chuck Spence at Meadow View School and Donna Wix will succeed Ken Bishop at McKinley School.

The trustees also rescinded all of the layoff notices it delivered to six teachers in March.