St. James voters head to polls Tuesday

Voters in St. James on Tuesday will go to the polls to decide whether to fund $3.7 million in improvements to Lucy Wortham James Elementary School.

It’s an issue that comes before voters for the third time in two years.

However, there are differences this time, and St. James Public School Superintendent Joy Tucker is hoping the third time is a charm.

“We feel like went about this in the best possible way,” Tucker said last week on the eve of the election.

“We hired an agency – Patron Insight – to poll voters and there was overwhelming support for this bond issue. Seventy-two percent of those polled said they would favor this issue because it sought funding for the elementary school alone.”

The two previous attempts, the first in April last year, failed by just 11 votes, and the second, in August, failed by about 200 tallies.

What’s different this time, is the district has only put before voters only the needs of the elementary school. The two previous referendums included districtwide upgrades to the high and middle schools.

The Patron Insight study showed overwhelming support for the elementary school upgrade, something that Lucy Wortham James Elementary School Principal Kim Shockley said has been long in coming.

“This is the same school that I went through so long ago,” said Shockley, who is a St. James native. “I came up through this school, and it’s very much the same way now as it was when it was built in the 1950s.”

Shockley said years ago, there were three classes at every grade level. Now, there are six classes at every level and the kindergarten class has seven, but she has enough students for an eighth class, but there, literally, is no room.

“We’re busting out. We have classes in the hall and some in the cafeteria,” Shockley said. “We teach music class from a cart that is wheeled from class to class.”

The bond issue will allow for more classrooms and a larger cafeteria, but the most pressing issue, Shockley said, is security.

“Our children go from classroom to classroom down the (outdodoor) walkways. Besides walking in the rain, like it is today, there are security issues,” said Shockley as rain poured down outside.

“There are issues today with non-custodial parents. We had a non-custodial parent right outside watching children. They can see students moving from room to room. We had to have someone go and move this person along,” she said.

“That (outdoor exposure) may have been fine when I went here, but times are different now. This is a whole different age. It’s adding classrooms and getting a larger cafeteria, but it’s also about keeping our children safe.”

Current student enrollment at LWJ Elementary is 800 students, making it one of the largest populated elementary schools in the state. It’s that enrollment, too, that tests the school’s ability to get all 800 students fed in the cafeteria in a timely manner.

“We’ll make the old cafeteria into classroom space,” Shockley said. “It’s served its purpose, but we just need a bigger place for students.”

The bond issue, if passed, will not add a further tax to taxpayers annual payments. It will extend the current bonds that are to expire in 2021 for another four years, to 2025.

Tucker, the superintendent, was asked what she would tell people who are critical of the bond issue, claiming it’s putting the burden of payment on their children.

“I would tell them it’s about the children,” Tucker said. “It’s time to pay forward. They were educated through this process, and now it’s time to pay forward for their education.”

Tucker stated clearly, it’s for improvements to the school. It’s not about pay raises for teachers or faculty.

“I’ll tell you what else: We’ll do what we can to get local people hired to do the construction work,” Tucker said. “If passed this bond issue will take about 18 months to complete. That’s a lot of people for a lot of months working in town and eating at a lot of restaurants helping the local economy.”

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. It is the only election in Phelps County.