Napavine Sr. High School Case Study

Napavine Jr. Sr. High School faces several challenges. The two most notable problems are lack of space and a shift in our population’s economic stability. In order to address our growing population and limited space, our district ran a bond last year after we spent months focusing on the needs of our students, our staff and our district. We asked all stakeholders to participate in various surveys to identify the needs of our district. Overwhelmingly, community members, staff and students identified lack of space as a major issue. Our superintendent and school board decided to remodel our existing facilities in order to better house the growing student population. This was not a decision made lightly. We live in a small community where the median income per household is $39, 534. The school board initially discussed completely tearing down the old facilities and building a brand new school. However, this was not what the community wanted, nor could they afford the tax …show more content…
Sr. High School since. We are currently in the process of reevaluating our needs in order to present a new bond to the taxpayers. There were mistakes made when we ran the first bond. First of all, this is a small community where everyone knows everyone. The superintendent was new to the district and had not gained the trust of the community members. Regardless of whether or not the mistrust was valid or not is irrelevant at this point. The most important lesson learned is that whoever sits in the superintendent seat must gain the trust and respect of the community before he/she puts such an expensive bond before the taxpayers. Our superintendent began in September of 2012 and attempted to push an $18 million bond in less than three years of service. Ultimately, there was huge pushback from some of the older community members due to the high cost and lack of trust in the