On Tuesday, April 7, the School District of Clayton will be asking voters for approval of a $51 million bond issue. Proposition S will make repairs and improve facilities at Clayton High School, Captain Elementary School, Glenridge Elementary School, Meramec Elementary School and the Family Center. It represents the culmination of a planning process that stretched the better part of 2008. This collaborative planning process allowed approximately 200 Clayton community members, parents and staff to weigh in with their thoughts on how we could improve our school buildings to better support students and maintain Clayton’s spot as one of the region’s top school districts.
Proposition S will do exactly that by providing funds for renovations and improvements that will allow us to:
Facilitate state-of-the-art teaching and learning in science by providing new science labs and classrooms at Clayton High School and each elementary school.
Repair and update infrastructure, including heating, air-conditioning, plumbing and electrical systems, to make our buildings healthier and more energy efficient.
Strengthen our dated technology infrastructure to meet current and future curriculum needs.
Make our early childhood and elementary school campuses safer, more secure and more accessible by improving student and traffic circulation.
Provide additional classroom and learning space at each elementary school to facilitate specialized instruction, including grade-level support, OASIS tutoring, enrichment and other individual and small-group learning.
Create additional, revenue-generating early childhood education classroom space at the Family Center to meet the community’s early childhood needs.
Repair and upgrade dated facilities at Clayton High School to meet the needs of athletics and performing arts programs.
Clayton schools continue to provide students with a strong education. However, it’s been 16 years since the District completed its previous facilities master plan, which we finished construction for almost 10 years ago. A recent public opinion survey showed that about 80 percent of our residents believe that the education provided by Clayton schools is as good or better than area private schools. Furthermore, more than 93 percent of those surveyed believed that it is vitally important to our property values to maintain the quality of our public schools. This is why the Board of Education chose to move forward with Prop S, to maintain the quality of our schools – for our students now and in the future.
A number of links located on the left of this page contain some additional information about Proposition S and the specific projects that will be completed with the proposed bond issue. There is also information explaining why the District is waiting until April 2010 to bring voters a plan for Wydown Middle School. I encourage you learn more about Proposition S. This proposal will help maintain the high quality of Clayton’s schools and ensure that we continue to be an educational leader among school districts throughout the country.
Thank you for your continuing support of our students and our school district.
