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Show School board talks about high school bonding issue By SCOTT SUMMERILL Taxpayers descended on the Davis County Board of Education I at their bimonthly meeting last Tuesday, March 20, to get informa- i tion and ask questions about the upcoming up-coming bond election for a new high school. Board President Lynn Sum-merhays Sum-merhays addressed the capacity crowd at East Layton Elementary school. His presentation showed an estimated 26.1 percent growth in the district from 1980-88, and school attendance that nearly doubles the capacity of several schools. "We don't know what's happening happen-ing with Hill (Air Force Base)," he said. "That's why we're only building one school instead of two. Even without considering Hill, we still need one new high school. ' ' Summerhays said the 2 mill levy the State Legislature gave district school boards during its last session can't be imposed until the State Board of Education clarifies the guidelines to be followed. Although he was unable to report on what guidelines my be initiated, Summerhays Sum-merhays said the need to reduce class size will be one of the parameters. "The greatest vote for a reduction reduc-tion in class size is a new high school," he told the crowd. The Board is looking for a site for the new school, and a second site will be chosen as well. However, no location has been determined de-termined at this time. "We really don't know where it will be right now," Summerhays said. "All I can tell you is it will be somewhere between the Layton and Clearfield boundaries." CONTINUED ONPG.Z spreads district money too thin, and only benefits a select few. He advocated ad-vocated a complete abolishment of sabbatical leave. 'When are we going to stop," he said. "We're trying to do too much. What we're doing here is limiting money to just a few." The Board agreed to put the two requests for sabbatical leave on the action agenda for the next meeting, and to develop alternative ideas to the sabbatical policy. L L Schools CONT. FROM PG. 1 When questioned about how junior ju-nior high schools will handle the growth, Summerhays said the district is already committed to Spending $4.5 million for expanding and restructuring many of the schools, so he doesn't anticipate an-ticipate an overcrowding problem right away in secondary schools. A member of the audience asked Summerhays if the Board would be approaching taxpayers for another school in three years. "We very well may," Summerhays Sum-merhays said. "It depends a lot on ; what happens with Hill Field. ' ' V x The Board also discussed pay-: pay-: ment of $50,000 in fees to the architectural archi-tectural firmn of Valentiner and Richardson. The fee is for work the firm will do in designing the new : high school prior to the bond election. elec-tion. The firm has agreed to do $100,000 worth of work between : now and the election, but will only charge the district half that amount. 4 fa There was concern over the fee from Board member Robert rThurgood. He was reluctant to approve ap-prove payment before the election. : However, Summerhays said the plans were needed whether the bonding was approved or not, and if the firm does not begin drafting them now, the August 1992 deadline will not be met. If the bond does not pass, the $50,000 fee will still be incurred and funding will have to come from some other source to pay the bill In other business, the Board discussed changing the policy on sabbatical leave for teachers to a program designed to reach more teachers for the money. "I would like to see us use the money for a broader number of teacher education programs," Summerhays said. "Sabbaticals are one of the wonderful perks that allows teachers to improve themselves. I would hate to see the program eliminated elim-inated entirely," said Board member Dan Eastman. Board member Dr. Ray Briscoe argued against any change in the policy, and said the program allows teachers to gain insight as well as improve on their education. "The most difficult thing about being a teacher is being strapped into a classroom year after year and never getting out to see the real world," he said. "You've got to look at the contributions of the teacher. They bring back an entirely new perspective." Board member Robert Glines argued that sabbatical spending |