Another New Wasilla Elementary School?
The Last Laugh Will Be On Palmer Voters
By Dina Sorensen
2/4/07Palmer-- On February 6th, the Mat-Su Assembly will vote on where the next new South Palmer Elementary School will be located. The school administration is recommending that it be located just south of Wasilla in ‘The Ranch’ subdivision off Fairview Loop. But wait – isn’t this supposed to be a ‘South Palmer’ school? Let’s review a little bit of Mat-Su history.
In October of 2005, Mat-Su voters were asked to vote for a school bond. This ballot proposition asked voters to approve general obligation bonds to construct three new elementary schools.
The proposition proposed the following projects:
Knik-Goosebay Area Elementary School
South Palmer Area Elementary School
South Trunk Road Area Elementary SchoolThe bond proposal was defeated.
On May 2, 2006 the borough held a special election to once again propose a bond for school construction. On the ballot this time, the ‘South Trunk Road Area Elementary School’ was dropped from the proposition in hopes that the proposition would be more likely to pass.
On February 14, 2006 the Assembly held a public hearing for the special election bond proposition. Twenty-six people came to testify in favor of putting two elementary schools on the ballot – Knik-Goosebay and South Palmer. Among the people testifying were chief school administrator Bob Doyle and other staff. I’m assuming they gave statistics to back their claims that South Palmer and Knik-Goosebay really needed schools. Tax dollars were budgeted for advertising for these two new schools because they were so urgently needed.
The proposition proposed the following projects:
Knik-Goosebay Area Elementary School
South Palmer Area Elementary School
Wasilla High School Remodel
Wasilla Middle School UpgradeThis time the bond proposal passed.
Statistics for that Special Election show that 71% of Palmer voters (Greater Palmer, Springer Loop, and the City of Palmer precincts) voted in favor of the school bond. These precincts had the three highest percentages in the entire Mat-Su Valley. Obviously, the school administration and the borough did a good job getting their message out this time. The Palmer area voters, including myself, were sold on the need for a new school.
This past fall, the borough administration requested proposals for the South Palmer Elementary School site. At that time, they added the South Trunk Road Area to the South Palmer Area for areas to be considered. The site that the school district now advocates goes even beyond the South Trunk Road area and is in the Fairview Loop/South Wasilla area. Does this mean that students who live in South Palmer and now go to Swanson or Sherrod will in the future be bused to South Wasilla to go to school? Why South Wasilla? We voted for South Palmer. The ballot was very clear – it said South Palmer and Knik Goosebay. South Trunk Road was dropped from the ballot for the Special Election and South Wasilla was never on the ballot. The Knik-Goosebay Elementary school is now under construction.
If the South Palmer school we voted for ultimately morphs into a South Wasilla Elementary School, where does that leave Palmer voters? With no new elementary school and none in the works or even on the six year capital improvement plan. Apparently the South Palmer Elementary School was just on the ballot in order to get us Palmer voters to vote favorably.
What’s worse is the feeling Palmer voters have - of being ‘had’. Next time the borough proposes a bond for school construction, even if the bond states that it is for Palmer, excuse us Palmer folks if we have become just a little cynical and are much more judicious with our votes.
