Voters asked to approve bond issue to help repair Grove Schools

GROVE, Okla. — Grove school leaders are proposing a third bond to the voters on August 27.

On the ballot is a $9.8 million no–tax–increase bond issue earmarked for maintenance. If passed, the bond will continue a 2015 bond that provided furnishings and other amenities to the new performing arts center. That bond is slated to go off the books June 2025.

“We listened to the people after the last bond was defeated – so we made some changes to address our maintenance issues – without a tax increase,” Dodson said.

Early voting started Wednesday for the special bond issue. Registered voters can vote now and Friday from 8 AM to 6 PM at the Delaware County Election Board in Jay.

The voters defeated two previous multi-million-dollar bond proposals to build new buildings to relieve the school’s overcrowding and address maintenance issues. The the largest school district in Ottawa and Delaware counties, Grove Schools, has around 2,500 students on its five campuses.

If passed, most of the bond money will be used to replace new roofs at the lower elementary and high school campuses, install new flooring at the high school campus, remodel playgrounds to accommodate children with disabilities, and repair bathrooms. The parking lot next to the Performing Arts Center will also be enlarged to provide additional and safer parking options.

“When it rains, we have some teachers having to put buckets in their classrooms, and others have had lesson plans, and the students’ work is destroyed due to water,” Dodson said.

A tour of the 25-year-old high school shows missing ceiling tiles and flooring repaired with grey duct tape due to constant leaking. Teachers have posted on social media sites photographs of buckets and tubs in their classrooms catching water dripping from ceiling tiles.

The school still struggles with several issues, including sizable maintenance issues, that would have been fixed if the previous bonds had passed, but Dodson said the school decided to address what could be fixed without raising taxes – starting with the roofs at the lower elementary and high school campuses.

Dodson said he had to push for a bond because the school’s building fund doesn’t provide enough funds for capital improvements

Dodson would like a higher voter turnout from the students’ parents. About 20 % of parents with children attending Grove schools voted in the last election. The bond has to pass by 60 percent.

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