Friends of Ennis Schools group forms to support Ennis Schools building reserve levy efforts
Amanda Harris wants to ensure there is transparency in how and why the school needs the funds that she did not see during the two most recent school levy campaigns
A citizens’ group named Friends of Ennis Schools has formed in Ennis with the mission of building support for the Ennis Schools building reserve levy that will go in front of voters on May 6. Amanda Harris of Flying S Title and Escrow headed up the group upon learning that the school board is legally bound from asking for support for the levy that will fix the school’s roof, boilers and other critical infrastructure required to keep the school open.
“It is geared to be a group of citizens that are concerned and want to share information with their community. We are doing this to be advocates and make sure the transparency is assured with the community,” said Harris who led the group’s first public meeting on March 19. The first order of business for the group was to complete the application processes that allows them to legally lobby for and promote the school board levy initiative within the community. Harris was raised by two teachers and grew up in a household that was very active in school affairs.
“I attend probably 90% of the school board meetings,” Harris stated. “I like to hear what is going on for myself and I am passionate about this project and informed. That’s how I found myself in this position.”
“I’m not sure the community knows about the condition of the facilities,” Harris said.
“I have two kids in the school and when you show up to find out they’ve been in their hat and gloves all day because it is so cold in their classrooms you get concerned,” she continued.
“Hearing during the school tour that we have three critical failure points that could shut down our school at any minute is very concerning to me as a parent,” she stated.
The potential critical failure points are the roof, the boilers and the HVAC system. At the March meeting of the board of trustees superintendent Jared Moretti commented that the school is "playing Russian roulette” with the roof.
“The last thing I want to do is find out within a day that our school is inoperable and we are going to rip our children out of the classrooms and into some sort of teaching our kids remotely from home. I don’t know how many of us can handle that again,” said Harris.
The school board approved the application for a six year loan that will address the roof, which is the most critical of the three failure points, but will have dire consequences if the building levy does not pass and the loan payments have to be made out of the general fund. At the March board of trustees meeting Moretti laid out consequences that could be as dire as cutting a teacher, four sports and a variety of other extracurricular programs.
“My personal vision is that we have to share this story,” Harris explains. “I think we need to enhance the conversation between the school and the citizens. Even if you don’t have a kid in the school, you are still actively vested in the best interest of the school. Even beyond this mill levy that is something we have to have moving forward.”
The previous two efforts by the school district to pass a mill levy met failure. Harris is optimistic about this effort being different.
“One major thing that I see as a taxpayer that is different is in the transparency of the intention of the funds,” said Harris. She points out that the prior mill levy efforts did not provide as specific breakdowns of how the taxpayer monies were to be spent as the current proposal does.
“Our administration and board hired McKinstry as a partner and I think that partnership is going to be invaluable in giving us detailed bids and no cost overruns.”
McKinstry is a building systems company that has provided engineering and architectural services to determine the scope of the project including the critical issues that must be dealt with and will provide support throughout the process of making the repairs and upgrades. The company will also assist with setting up a maintenance plan moving forward to help ensure the school does not end up back in this position again in 10 years.
“If the roof comes in under budget, McKinstry does not pocket that money, it comes back to the building maintenance fund and I think that is huge,” Harris said. McKinstry also absorbs the risk of cost overruns in the project if bids come in above what was estimated.
“We didn’t have this partnership before,” Harris continues. “We did not have the layer of transparency that we have this time. We know there were mistakes in the past, but I think they have done a good job of correcting that with this partner.”
Harris sees the group moving forward past the May 6 levy to act as an organization ensuring there is quality communication between the school and the community. If you are interested in being part of the Friends of Ennis Schools you can email info@friendsofennisschools.org
