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SCHOOL BOND ELECTION IS AUGUST 29th
More Than $75 Million At Stake For Campuses
By Mark Hallburn
Publisher
PutnamLIVE.com

Putnam County residents will get the chance to choose between four                                    new campuses and                                       school renovations                                       across the district                                  August 29th. That's                                   when the election for                                  the new school bond                                  will be held.

The $56,742,910 bond will fund nine school construction projects throughout the county.

If the bond passes, the West Virginia School Building Authority will give the Board of Education an additional $21,745,736 to build a new Winfield Middle School.

The following is a campus-by-campus breakdown of each of the projects, according to district officials:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• New Buffalo High School containing approximately 88,000 square feet, including classrooms, science labs, computer labs, a library/media center, auditorium, fine arts classrooms, dining room, kitchen, a gymnasium with locker rooms, an auxiliary gymnasium, restrooms, and faculty planning, to house approximately 400 students in grades 9-12.

The current Buffalo High School campus is more than 50 years old and has a student body of nearly 300 students.

• New Poca Middle School containing approximately 66,000 square feet, including classrooms, science labs, computer lab, a library media center, dining room, kitchen, a gymnasium with locker rooms, restrooms and faculty planning, to house approximately 350 students in grades 6-8 on the current Poca Middle School site with renovations to the remaining portions of the existing middle school.












 

 

 

• Complete renovation of Poca Elementary School, including the addition of four new classrooms.














 

• New Confidence Elementary School containing approximately 38,000 square feet, including classrooms, computer lab, a library/media center, gymnasium, dining room, kitchen, restrooms, and faculty planning, to house approximately 250 students in grades pre-k to five.

The project is to be located on property to be acquired by the Board of Education approximately 3 miles north of the existing Confidence Elementary School.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• New Winfield Middle School containing approximately 83,000 square feet of a new facility and renovation of approximately 7,000 square feet, including classrooms, science labs, computer labs, a library/media center, dining room, kitchen, gymnasium with locker rooms, restrooms and faculty planning to house approximately 650 students in grades 6-8. This project is to be located on the current Winfield Middle School property.

About two-thirds of Winfield Middle School students currently take classes in "portable" buildings that have been on the campus for decades.

The Winfield Middle School project has been awarded 2009 Needs Funding by the WVSBA contingent upon passage of the bond issue.

• New gymnasium at Winfield Elementary School, including storage containing approximately 3,800 square feet.

• Auxiliary gymnasium at Hurricane High School, including a 50’ x 84’ playing court and approximately 200 bleacher seats.

• Auxiliary gymnasium at Poca High School, including a 50’ x 84’ playing court and approximately 200 bleacher seats.

• Auxiliary gymnasium at Winfield High School, including a 50’ x 84’ playing court and approximately 200 bleacher seats.

^{"This bond means everything," says Superintendent of Schools Harold "Chuck" Hatfield. "This is the future to Putnam County schools 10 years ago it would be nice.  Now it’s a necessity. You just cannot offer a 21st century learning environment in a building constructed in 1926."}

^{Hatfield says new technology in classrooms is crucial for Putnam County students to compete with students across the country around the world.}

^{"In order to compete in a global economy and a global society," Hatfield adds, "our students have to have the tools. The skill-set is going to rely on technology. The infrastructure of these old buildings wasn't designed for smart boards, computers, robotics, and other high-tech learning tools. We don't even have the basic electrical capacity in some of these buildings to handle those things. We have to unplug one side of the building to keep the other side from blowing a circuit."}

Putnam County voters have not approved a school bond since 1976. A bond to consolidate Buffalo and Poca High Schools failed in 2001.

If approved, the bond would cost the average Putnam County taxpayer $10 more per month in the beginning. However, Hatfield says that number is based on the "highest-possible interest rate" and could be lower. As more homes and businesses come to Putnam County, the cost of the bond for each taxpayer would also be lower over its 15.5 years.

Voters can cast their ballots in two ways:

Election Day is Saturday, August 29th.

Early Voting is weekdays from August 7th through August 26th, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the old Putnam County Courthouse.

Voter Registration Deadline—Monday, August 10, 2009

Please click here for Eyewitnes News' video report.

For a map of the district's four high schools, please click here.

For more information, please click on: www.PutnamSchools.com.