Voters to decide Arlee bond

ARLEE — The Arlee School District will ask voters for help this November to raise funds for school improvement projects, and school officials will outline more details at a meeting tonight (Aug. 17) to give voters a better idea of repair projects needed around the district.

The bond, if passed, will help fund the construction of new school buildings that would include a school gym, classrooms for kindergarten through third grade and a lunchroom for all grade levels.

"The school's gym floor is falling apart, and the lunch room is not accommodating to the numbers of students," clerk Anne Stewart said.

Taxpayers will have the opportunity to vote on the issue in November. Superintendent Gordon Friberg stated that the school's needs be addressed in a two-part ballot question that will allow voters to pick one or both projects.

If the proposal fails then the school district will have to make smaller plans for needed improvements.

"Then it comes back to the board to ask if we should scale back and ask for the voters to pass it for less," superintendent Gordon Friberg said at a facilities meeting Monday night.

Concerned residents are already debating ideas on acquiring the needed funding.

Cutting the old gym floor into pieces and branding them with the school's logo and selling the pieces for $75 to $150 was an idea proposed by Sue Carney.

An open house will be held in September and October with concept pictures to give the public a better idea of what the final projects will look like. Tonight's meeting is at 7:30 p.m. at the Arlee elementary lunch room.