Proposition W / Overview

Clayton Voters Approve Prop W
to Rebuild Wydown Middle School

Unofficial results show that School District of Clayton voters approved Proposition W - a $39.4 million zero-tax-rate increase bond issue on the April 6 ballot. Prop W will fund the construction of a new facility to replace Wydown Middle School at its current location.

Election results are not official until they are certified bu the St. Louis County Board of Elections. The bond issue needed a four-sevenths (57.15 percent) majority to pass.

Proposition W	Votes	Percent
Total Votes	3,873
Yes	2,434	62.85%
No	1,439	37.15%

The proposition will keep the District’s current tax rate the same. The Prop W was developed collaboratively with over 280 parents, community members, students and staff as part of the six-month Wydown Tomorrow process.

The current Wydown facility presents significant challenges for our students and staff. Wydown’s outstanding faculty has done everything possible to maintain high-quality instruction but crowded hallways, undersized classrooms, multiple level changes and antiquated building systems are deficiencies that create very real educational challenges.

We’ve been studying Wydown Middle School for the past 10 years. The recent community-driven Wydown Tomorrow process not only built upon and critically evaluated ideas from the past decade but also explored ten additional options for addressing the needs at Wydown, including a proposal submitted by a Clayton resident. In addition to six months of meetings, which were open to the public, Wydown Tomorrow conducted X tours and held an open house to increase awareness of Wydown’s facility issues and gather community input. The due diligence represented by Wydown Tomorrow’s work is a fitting capstone to a decade of study.

Building a new school at our current home on Wydown Boulevard will address a countless number of complex issues in ways that can’t be accomplished by renovating or adding on to the existing building. Out of all the concepts vetted by Wydown Tomorrow, the “new school” option is the least disruptive to students, increases parking and green space and provides significantly more benefits for proportionally fewer dollars than any of the committee’s renovation/addition options. It’s a plan to improve our middle school to better support our students and maintain Clayton’s spot as one of the region’s top school districts.

Proposition W will provide funds to that will allow us to build a facility that:

Provides a building that fits Wydown’s existing, rich curriculum
Contains classrooms and learning spaces sized to meet state standards
Supports state-of-the-art technology
Incorporates principles of green design
Supports Wydown’s strength in fine arts
Provides a flexible building that will easily adjust to meet future curriculum needs

Thank you for your continued support of our students and your school district.

Last Modified on January 26, 2010