NEWS RELEASE Oct. 9, 2006 Citizens unite to support USD 308 special bond issue Determined to get the word out about the importance of supporting the USD 308 special bond issue on the November 7 ballot, local citizens have formed a committee to focus attention on the benefits and key reasons for a "yes" vote. At stake is implementation of the USD 308 Master Facility Plan. The campaign committee, known as "Our Kids Come First", has organized a promotional effort to inform voters about the plan. Spokesperson Dorothy Barnett said the Master Facility Plan is proactive and painstakingly developed to solve a list of facility needs that have been identified by teachers, staff, board members and school patrons. These needs are based on the current status of school buildings as well as a projection of the learning and program needs of students. The plan includes needed renovations to provide space for new programs, curriculum and hands-on learning. It also covers the improvement of student protection and security, assurances that facilities meet required building codes, and safer, more efficient student pick-up and drop-off areas around schools. The planning process started over four years ago, followed by the creation of a steering committee in May of 2005. In March and April of this year, the speaker bureau of the steering committee made presentations at 43 meetings attended by 815 people. Civic, professional, retiree, parent, school, and cultural groups were among those targeted. Over the course of the meetings 387 attendees completed feedback forms reflecting which of the plan options they could support. Each steering committee member was given detailed information about the community meetings and survey results, including 17 pages of comments submitted with the feedback forms. The committee discussed this information as well as results of the scientific survey completed in April by DeSieghardt Strategic Communications. Four hundred USD 308 frequent voters and 100 randomly selected parents with students in the district were surveyed by phone. The scientific survey closely aligned with the feedback forms. The survey techniques were structured to insure an accuracy of plus or minus 4%. This process resulted in the steering committee, by a vote of 12 to 2, recommending to the School Board the bond election be scheduled and held at the Nov. 7, 2006 General Election. Those wanting additional information are invited to select "The Master Plan" link. In this, information can be found broken down by how each school will be affected or an overall description of the entire plan. ### For more information contact: Dorothy Barnett, co-chair at (620) 474-5244 Darla Neal, co chair at (620) 662-0494