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Show Bond Election ' December 21 The board of education of Alpine ! School district has called a spec ial election for Monday, Dec. 21, at which election there will be . submitted to the registered voters who have paid a property tax during dur-ing the year preceding such election elec-tion the following question: Shall the Board of Education of Alpine School District be authorized auth-orized to issue and sell bonds of the district in the amount of - ' '$1,250,000. The purpose of raising money is for purchasing school sites and for the building of one or more high schools and supplying supply-ing the same with furniture and apparatus and for improving the grounds. The first high school to be built will be located at Orem, where the condition of over-loading of the present facilities is most serious, and there will be sites purchased for high schools at Pleasant Grove, American Fork and Lehi. The editor of the Pleasant Grove Review has asked Board members Philo T. Edwards of Orem Or-em and George Bone of Lehi to give us their ideas on the need for voting the bond issue at this time. Next week we will ask other board members for their opinions. We herewith publish their comments. com-ments. Because of the overcrowded condition con-dition of the Lincoln High School at the present time, and with the increase each year of high school students in that area, it is very necessary for a new school to be built in the Orem area. If the bond election goes over on Dec. 21 it will be possible to secure a new ' high school by the school year of 1956. . to support a new high school building for Pleasant Grove. Philo T. Edwards Board Member Orem, Utah As a board member and individual indiv-idual and after studying the present pres-ent enrollment by areas, the census by area, the projected growth of these areas, along with the past, present and anticipated revenues of the Alpine School District, I would like to recommend to the people of the District that they support the education of the youth of the District by voting the bond election in favor of borrowing 1 million dollars to build a high school in Orem and purchase sites in Pleasant Grove, American Fork and Lehi, suitable both from geographical geo-graphical location and size (15 to 20 acres) for future high school buildings. Even by limiting the amount to ltJC million, the district during the next few years is going to suffer growing pains and many inconveniences, and to do the job adequately, the bond would have had to be a great deal larger. However, in making the decision to limit the bond to the 1 million the board's judgment was to be as conservative as possible to the taxpayer both large (such as Geneva Gen-eva Steel, who pays 50 per cent of our education cost), and the small home owner, who is already burdened with taxes. It is hoped that by the fact that our population trend seems to be leveling off and that with the completion com-pletion of our elementary schools in the next three or four years, that with the future cooperation of the legislature of the State, that It will take between eight and ten months before an architect will be able to complete plans '' for a new high school. The board j expects to call in the principals of I i number of high schools and get t uJieir ideas on the kind of a high I ichool they should build at Orem. - - If the contract is let during the latter part of 1954, then it will take over a year for a large high school to be constructed, so it is quite certain it would not be ready until the fall of 1956. The cooperation of all of the voters of the district is needed if the bond election is to be put over on Dec. 21. In regard to the High School at Pleasant Grove and from the feeling of the people who have contacted me from Pleasant Grove I am thoroughly convinced that to move the high school from PI. Grove would be a big mistake, as after all it is the people that we are representing on the board, and their wishes are what we want to comply with. When the proper time comes, I will do all in my power additional secondary schools can be built throughout the District without with-out increasing the tax rate, which would have been the result of a larger bond. The Orem area is at present housing better than 1300 Junior and Senior High School students in buildings adequate for educating educa-ting seven and eight hundred. The new building will not be ready until un-til 1956 and by then, according to present grade classes, there will be four to five hundred more, or a total of 1800 students in Junior and Senior High. Thus, it is evident evi-dent that in that area even for two years, it will necessitate shifting shift-ing of students into grade schools and probably even out of their section of the district. It is from these facts that I endorse the passing of the bond election and urge the communities in the north end of the district to support Orem in its needs at the present time. George I. Bone, Board Member, Lehi, Utah |