Winston School Board proposes increase in levy

During their meeting Jan. 18, the Winston School Board approved a resolution for the April 5, 2016 ballot proposing a levy increase of $1.24 per $100 assessed value for the purpose of constructing a new classroom facility for the district. If approved, the levy would provide funding to construct a building that would contain Elementary and High School classrooms and house the Early Childhood Preschool. The question will be placed on the April 5th ballot and have a sunset of 20 years. Informational meetings will be held prior to April 5th for the Winston Community to provide information related to the ballot measure.

If passed, the district would also qualify for an additional $35,000 to $40,000 annually in State Small Schools Funds that would be used to make improvements to the cafeteria, gym, Agriculture/Science buildings and other district capital improvements. Currently the Winston School District is not eligible for these state provided funds due to the district’s low levy.

The board will hold a special meeting on Feb. 4 to consider bus bids.

The district will seek bids for a school bus in order to complete a $20,000 Clean Diesel Grant that the district has received. Bids are due to the district office by Feb. 3.

Incumbents Allen Rhoades and Greg Farrell have both filed for the April 5th school board election. This year’s Winston R-VI School District board election consists of two three-year terms. Due to the number of filers being equal to the number of positions, there will be no school board election held this year.

In executive session, the board offered current high school principal Chris Gagnon and current elementary principal Pam Madison contracts for the 2016-2017 school year. The board offered letters of intents to Eric Lewis to coach elementary boys basketball and to Kayla Cheeney to coach elementary girls basketball.