SAUGATUCK, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Saugatuck Public Schools isn’t giving up on raising money for what the district feels are needed building and program needs.
By the end of this week, residents in that Lakeshore community should receive in the mail a letter from the district with an online link to a survey, conducted by EPIC/MRA, which is aimed at gauging sentiment on funding expansion and improvements to the district’s two buildings – Douglas Elementary School and Saugatuck Junior/Senior High School. The polling comes after Saugatuck Schools had bond proposals of $50.7 million and $39.9 million rejected at the ballot box the past two years, the last rejection coming due to a three-vote margin.
“Three votes made it pretty complicated, really, about what we should be doing moving forward,” explained Dr. Tim Travis, district superintendent, during a recent appearance on “WHTC Morning News.” “I think we gained a lot of support and did a great job of communicating.
“What we want to continue to do is to keep on communicating and to keep on listening. We’ll take that data (from this new survey) to our facilities committee and look at which parts of the plan are most well received and which parts of the plan might be a cause for concern. We can then package several different options together and see which ones have the highest amount of support.
“The need is still there. The design, the core concepts we started with are still relevant, but we are trying to work with our community to set us up for the next 30 years.”
The $15,000 survey effort will run from September 14th through the 29th.
