School bond questions discussed at open forum

Chuck Kajer

Managing Editor

Board members and officials from the New Prague Area Schools discussed the upcoming bond referendum during an open forum prior to the board’s meeting Thursday, Oct. 13.

About a dozen residents were on hand as board member Dan Carlson went over the four questions voters will be asked to approve at the November 8 election.

Question 1 asks voters for $17.175 million to construct and equip an addition to the existing high school to increase capacity from 1,050 students to more than 1,500.

The current high school opened in 1998, and enrollment at the school now exceeds the capacity of the building. Projections show that enrollment will continue to rise, with next year’s enrollment topping 1,100 students in grades 9-12.

Jerry Walerius, a candidate in this year’s school board election, asked how in one year, the proposal for the school went from $10 million to $17 million. Superintendent Dr. Frankie Poplau answered that only about $1 million of the increase was due to inflation. The remaining difference came about because the district decided to study the needs of the building.

We decided if we were going to do this

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