By Malcolm Butler
With the vote for the Lincoln Parish School Board capital outlay bond proposal less than two weeks away, parties from both sides continue to try to get their points across.
If the April 29 vote passes it would mean an existing 17.5 millage would be extended thus generating $65 million, the majority of that earmarked to restructure existing elementary schools within the Parish (see Capital Outlay Plan below).
This plan would combine Hillcrest Elementary and Glen View Elementary back into K-5 schools and would repurpose the two Ruston elementary schools on the south side of the city – Ruston Elementary and Cypress Springs. Both buildings would be utilized for other purposes, including preliminary plans to move the LPSB central office to Cypress Springs.
Lincoln Parish School Board Superintendent Ricky Durrett said his main goal is to arm voters with the facts as April 29 approaches.
“We simply want the voters to have all the information of how we came up with the plan, what the plan is, and what it could mean for our students and our families in the Ruston school district,” said Durrett. “If they are for it, then we appreciate that. If they aren’t and they vote it down, then we certainly understand that. But our goal is to get all of the information out to the voters, so they have a thorough understanding of what they are voting for or against.”
Durrett said he believes that the overriding sentiment within the Ruston school district is that the thought process for combining the schools into K-5 is
“I think from the conversations that I have had the biggest push back is both schools are north of the interstate, but I believe for the most part, people agree that putting K through fifth on one campus is what is best for students,” said Durrett.
He said he has done everything he can to help educate voters on what the gameplan means for the schools.
“I have spoken to groups that have asked me to speak to them,” said Durrett. “I have not turned anyone down or not gone to a meeting that I was invited to. I have had some parent groups that wanted to meet with me. I have been to a couple of community meetings. I’ve been to some open houses at schools. I have been to retired teachers. I am going to Rotary to speak.
“We have given the teachers the information. What I have heard from most is they support the plan and believe this is what is best for kids as far as giving them a strong foundation in the early grades.”
The Lincoln Parish Journal sat down with Durrett on Thursday to ask him to clarify some of the information.
LPJ: What is the current configuration of elementary schools in Lincoln Parish?
Durrett: Right now we have Ruston Elementary and Cypress Springs are third through fifth grade. Hillcrest and Glen View are kindergarten through second grade schools. You would be surprised at how many people think that they are all still K through fifth grade schools. This change was made back after the 2011-12 school year. We are not changing the attendance zones for either school whether we pass this or don’t pass it. So the demographics for each – whether it’s one school or two – will stay the same as they are today.
LPJ: Is this a renewal (extension) or a new tax?
Durrett: What we are doing is selling bonds that will total up to $65 million that will be used to complete the construction projects that were approved in our capital outlay plan which is very detailed with what we are doing with the money. This will be paid for by not raising any millages but by keeping the 17.75 mills that we have now. Some of those millages will roll off in the coming 12 to 15 years as other bonds are being paid off that were passed in past years. It is not an increase in anybody’s taxes. It is continuing to pay what you are paying now going forward. If property values go up, the millages will go down. We cannot raise more money with this millage just because property values go up. There will be some mills that go off in 2024, but even if we don’t pass this, the whole 17.75 mills is not going off.
LPJ: Will this help or hurt the safety of our schools?
Durrett: We believe right now that we are protecting four different campuses in Ruston Elementary, Cypress Springs, Hillcrest and Glen View. If we merge two of the schools on each side together, then we add more students to the campuses, but it is just two campuses that we are securing; making sure that people have controlled access to get into, providing Student Resource Officers (SROs) to protect them. Also with any new construction, we must build storm shelters that will withstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour. So, we feel like moving forward, schools will be safer and will improve with some of the storm shelters that much be provided with any new construction. None of our current schools have storm shelters. This was passed by the state legislature about three or four years ago.
LPJ: What is the No. 1 reason you are asking for this bond proposal?
Durrett: We wanted to provide consistency for students and families and not as many transitions for kids. We know that if we can keep kids at one school from kindergarten through fifth grade – which is early years, foundations are established educationally to set them up for success later – we know that if we can do that from K through five, we have much greater success like we have seen at other schools in the district like at Simsboro and Choudrant that are K-5 or K-6 configuration. That is our No. 1 goal … to provide a better foundation and better education for our students in K thru 5 without transitioning to different schools.
LPJ: How would this impact the amount of time kids spend on the bus?
Durrett: If you think about no matter if you live in the north, the south, the east or the west, if a bus driver has to pick up kids and take them to two different schools that are 10 to 15 minutes a part, that is going to take longer. We have to pick up earlier to get to both of those stops. So if we are going to one stop and we take one of those out no matter which direction you are coming from, it’s going to take 15 to 20 minutes off of that route time. We will be able to pick kids up 15 to 20 minutes later in the morning and we will get them home 15 to 20 minutes earlier in the afternoon. It shortens the time a kid spends going to and from school.
LPJ: What options were explored before settling on this capital outlay plan?
Durrett: We looked at several things. We looked at changing Cypress Springs to a K through five school. Traffic flow, road frontage there, the terrain behind it, made it not a good option. We would need more land to make a different car line and bus line there and I’m not even sure how we would do that there. We also looked at building two brand new schools. That became way more expensive than we felt like taxpayers would be willing to pay for. We looked at everything we could, and this is the plan we came up with that we think is best for kids but also using the financial resource that we have without asking taxpayers to pay more money … just keeping it level at what they are used to paying now.
LPJ: What will be done with Cypress Springs and Ruston Elementary?
Durrett: Cypress Springs would not be closed and allowed to just fall apart. We will repurpose that as the new (Lincoln Parish School Board) central office so we could all be in one building. And we would work with Boys and Girls Club to transition Ruston Elementary into something they can use for junior high and high school kids. It wouldn’t be shuttered and closed. We have not worked out whether that would be an MOU or a lease or a sale, but we do know they are interested in it. We would work something out with them to use that facility. The Boys and Girls Club enhances our educational experience for kids in Ruston so that’s a natural fit for us to partner with.
LPJ: What would improvements mean for Ruston High School?
Durrett: The Ruston High School baseball field backstop has been messed up since we had the tornados come through in 2019. We will upgrade the stands and press box to match what is already down there at the city complex and align with what we have at the softball field. I think it makes for a better experience for fans to go to the ball games, and it addresses some of the issues we have had since the tornado. The multi-purpose covered facility at Ruston High School would be used by soccer, football, band, cheerleaders, baseball and softball; we would have batting cages in them. It’s right there on the campus. It’s covered, which would keep the temperatures down for them in the summer when we are trying to have band camp or practices and football practices. It will make it safer for the kids to do things in the heat of the summer.
LPJ: Will the demographics of the schools change in any way?
Durrett: No, they will not change. We are not changing any of the attendance zones. Kids that normally attend our elementary schools on the east side of 167 will stay the same and those on the west side will stay the same.
