By KIM MARQUIS
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Voters will be asked to approve $11.8 million in school bonds for a renovation at Gastineau Elementary in Douglas in the Oct. 6 municipal election.
The project is the Juneau School District’s top priority on a list of local schools that need to be updated.
Gastineau Elementary was built in 1957 and has never been fully renovated. The school needs upgrades to mechanical, ventilation and lighting systems, and needs to be brought up to code, District Facilities Coordinator Deb Morse said.
Teachers work in former closets with no windows or ventilation, carpets are stained and worn, walls are pock-marked and children eat lunch in the gym, Morse said.
The renovation would include a fence around the playground to keep kids in and bears out, said principal Angie Lunda. Work on the grounds could also fix flooding problems that sometimes put the back alleyway under 2 feet of water.
The building has good bones, Morse said, but needs a facelift.
The projects qualify for a 70 percent reimbursement from the state.
Voters in recent years have approved a new high school that was nearly $10 million over budget, extensive renovations at Harborview and Glacier Valley elementary schools, a playground at Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School and a community pool that will be used by school children.
Voters are faced with the request as communities across the country tighten fiscal belts in a down economy.
If approved by voters, the bonds would be repaid over 10 years through a property tax increase, costing the owner of a $350,000 home an extra $42 per year in property taxes.
Similar renovations are needed at Auke Bay Elementary and the Marie Drake building, but the Juneau Assembly decided to place only one school project on the ballot this year.
The school district initially asked the Assembly to consider putting all three projects on October’s ballot, at a price of $44 million.
The school district anticipates coming back in future years to ask voters for funds for the other two projects.