Superintendent's Monthly Message - October 2015

I wanted to take some time this month to share some information with everyone about the upcoming bond election. One
thing that I have found interesting over the past several weeks is how varied the public awareness is about the upcoming
bond election. There are some people who do not understand that we will be voting on this issue in the very near
future. Other people are very aware of this issue and they are prepared to vote as soon as advanced voting opens on
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October 14 .
First, let me talk about some important dates that are coming up very fast. The deadline to register to vote in this election
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is Tuesday October 13 . You can become a registered voter by going to the County Clerks Office in the Marshall County
Courthouse on Broadway in Marysville. You will need a photo id and proof of citizenship, which usually means a birth
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certificate. Advanced voting begins on October 14 . You have two different options for advanced voting - 1) you can
contact the County Clerks Office and request that a ballot be mailed to you, or 2) you can stop by the County Clerks
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Office during regular business hours anytime between 8:00 am on October 14 and noon on November 2 . There is only
one question on the ballot and it is a simple Yes or No question. If you are unable to participate in advanced voting, you
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will be able to cast your ballot on Tuesday November 3 at the American Legion in Marysville. For this election the
American Legion in Marysville is the only polling place within the district. This will have the most effect on those
individuals who live in the Beattie and Summerfield areas and who are used to voting in Beattie. The polls will open at
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7:00 am on Tuesday November 3 at the Marysville American Legion and the polls will close at 7:00 pm that night.
I would really like to see a large voter turnout for this election. What I am learning from talking to various people within the
district is that this election will be very similar to other elections at the local, state, and national levels. There are a
significant number of people in favor of this issue and a significant number of people opposed to this proposal. There are
also a significant number of people who are still undecided. The outcome of this election will be determined by which
voters are passionate enough to go cast a vote. Oftentimes, voters feel like their vote doesnt count especially on
statewide and national elections because their one vote does not seem significant when hundreds of thousands or
millions of votes have to be counted. In local elections such as this bond issue election, every vote counts and I have
seen several instances where a single vote separated winning and losing.
One thing that I have learned over the past year and few months is that everyone who lives in USD 364 wants a quality
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education for the students in our district. The proposed plan that is on the ballot for November 3 is the direct result of
information that we learned or gleaned from our Community Meetings this past summer and from other meetings with
community members, teachers, students, and parents. This process started over two years ago when the USD 364
Board of Education formed a Facilities Committee to take a closer look at our buildings and to begin planning for the
future. This committee had even started having conversations with an architect. When I came on board in July 2014, we
took a couple of steps back and started a little different process that got the community involved from the very
beginning. We formed a Facilities Advisory Committee that included community members and some members of the
school district staff. We asked a lot of questions, did a lot of listening, and took lots of notes. As a district, we also
decided to go through a more formal process of selecting an architect and a financial advisor to work alongside of us as
we started working to develop a strategic plan for our district facilities. Once the architect was in place, he conducted a
series of meetings where he spoke with community members, teachers, students, parents, and school administrators to
better clarify the facility needs within our district. Our architect presented his original proposal to me this past spring and
then we went to work modifying the original proposal into the first proposal that was shared at public meetings in June and
July of this year. Based on the feedback we received from the first round of public meetings, we developed the proposal
that you will be able to vote on in the near future.
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Drafting the proposal that is on the ballot for November 3 was not an easy process. The general sense that we were
getting from the public was that we needed to do something, but everyone had their own opinion about what to include in
this bond issue and what to not include. We had some people tell us that they would vote No if a gym was included and
other people would tell us that that would only vote Yes if a gym was included. Some people wanted new plumbing at
the high school while others did not. We tried to look into the crystal ball and predict our building needs 15 or 20 years
into the future. We listened to all of the feedback that we received from the public and from our staff to develop the
proposal that is on the upcoming ballot.
If you would like specific information on the bond issue, we encourage you to visit www.usd364.org and click on the Bond
Issue Information link in the upper right hand corner of the page. This will provide you with information and details about
the bond issue itself. You can also contact me by e-mail at bmullins@usd364.org or by phone at (785)562-5308 and I will
respond to your questions.

I encourage you to learn as much as you can in the next few weeks about this bond issue and then cast your vote
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between October 14 and November 3 . After the votes are counted on November 3 , we will know the will of the people
in regards to the proposed bond issue. In my mind, this election process is what makes the United States such a great
country. Thank you for being a part of the Bulldog Family! Go Bulldogs!