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WGLT's reporting on the coronavirus pandemic, which began in McLean County in March 2020.

Voters OK 2 McLean County School Projects

El Paso-Gridley Junior High School
El Paso-Gridley School District
Voters in the EPG district approved issuing $20 million in bonds to build a new junior high school in Gridley.

Voters in two McLean County school districts gave the go-ahead to proceed with building improvements on Election Day.

LeRoy voters backed issuing about $8.3 million in bonds for a new elementary school auditorium that students k-through-12 would use. The district hasn't had an auditorium for nearly two decades.

Superintendent Gary Tipsord said even though the tax rate won't increase due to these bonds, the district had to sell the public on the idea that it's worth extending the district's debt load.

“I understand why people would say ‘no,’ I get that,” Tipsord conceded. “We understand that from a financial standpoint, we understand that from a property tax standpoint. Here’s what we see the benefit to our students and to our community both.”

Tipsord noted voter turnout in LeRoy was higher this year (more than 1,000 votes cast) than during the 2016 primary, even with coronavirus fearslikely keeping many away from the polls.
 

LeRoy Elementary School
Credit Facebook/LeRoy Elementary School
Voters in the LeRoy school district approved issuing $8 million in bonds to build a new auditorium for the entire district to use.

“When you consider all the other circumstances gong on right now, there are a lot of reasons to stay home,” Tipsord said. “There were a lot of reasons to stay where you are at and not participate in the voting process. The fact that our public came out and engaged that way says a lot about our community.”

Tipsord expects construction to begin next spring with the goal to have it ready sometime in 2022.

Voters in the El Paso-Gridley school district overwhelmingly approved building a new junior high in Gridley.

Superintendent Brian Kurz said teachers and administrators got behind the $20 million project and the community listened as voter support reached 83%.

“When you see a community vote 80% or more agree on what the next path forward is, that’s pretty exciting to see the unity and the support the community has here at EPG,” Kurz boasted.

Kurz said the district plans to build the new school by the fall of 2022. He said the district will explore what do to with the current junior high, whether to find a new purpose for it or demolish it. 

COVID-19 response

The school bond ballot questions passing provided a rare bit of good news during uncertain times during the coronavirus response that includes a statewide shutdown of all schools through March 30.

Tipsord said teachers are using a remote learning platform to allow for them to engage with the students.

He said the future remains unclear about how the district will proceed after March 30 if schools will remain closed.

He said with five weeks of instruction left in the school year, he believes remote learning for the rest of the school year is manageable.

“Is it going to be ideal? Nope,” Tipsord said. “Are some kids and parents going to be frustrated? Are some teachers going to be frustrated through this process? Probably. But we are going to ask consistently in the best interest of our students and their opportunity to learn.

“We don’t want to lose those moments in time with these kids’ lives.”

Kurz said EPG already had an e-learning program in place which it used previously, but he acknowledged the challenges of implementing e-learning curriculum over the long term, since teachers won’t be able to choose between what activities work best in the classroom and what work best online.

“Planning a lesson for one day of e-learning is a different ball game than planning for weeks of e-learning,” Kurz said. “At the same time our staff has the skills and the technology. It’s just going to require working together and solving some of those bigger picture problems,” Kurz said.

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Eric Stock is the News Director at WGLT. You can contact Eric at ejstoc1@ilstu.edu.
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