To find a complete list of polling locations, visit voteyesforAustinschools.org and click on Where do I vote?

Did you see KVUE’s spot on the bond package, and particularly Anderson High School, on Monday?  Senior Sara Beth Purdy was interviewed and did a great job of explaining why Anderson needs additional classrooms.  It was Sara Beth’s first election to vote in and she was happy to vote YES, YES, YES on all three propositions, knowing that the improvements made under this bond package will benefit her younger brother and students to follow her.

Once again, these are the items that are in the bond package that will positively impact our vertical team schools. 

In Proposition 1, Anderson will receive four new science laboratory classrooms with an elevator.  All of our vertical team schools, including Anderson, Murchison, Doss, Hill, Davis, and Summitt, will receive upgrades in technology hardware and systems such as wireless connections, mobile carts, a gradebook and student info programs, among other items to enhance instruction and management.  

In Proposition 2, Doss will have electric drinking fountains replaced to meet ADA code, have locking systems installed on doors to classroom pods, and have its condenser and multizone air-handling unit in the 300 wing replaced.  Davis is having its moveable partition between the cafeteria and gym replaced.  Hill and Murchison would receive new dishwashers.  Summitt will have heat pump units replaced at the cafeteria, gym, and kitchen.  Anderson will receive four additional tennis courts to bring the school up to district-wide standards and have selected air handling units replaced.  Also in this Proposition, the Anderson vertical team schools would receive capacitor banks, a new requirement by Austin Energy that would improve and balance power demand and prevent the district from facing $2 million in additional charges.  Low-emission diesel and two plug-in hybrid school buses, which would be purchased with Prop 2 funds, might also benefit our students, if they are put into service on our routes.

In Proposition 3, Anderson would receive twelve additional classrooms and have its overcrowded and unsafe fine arts wing renovated.  All students from the Anderson vertical team could also benefit from a district-wide performing arts center (PAC).

From the Austin American Statesman:

Pass bonds to ease crowding and boost science, technology

By The Editorial Board | Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 05:19 PM

With 2,000 new students enrolling every year, it’s no wonder that the Austin school district has crowding problems. That alone has pushed the district to build 16 new schools in the past 10 years - and it’s time to build a few more.

Austin’s enrollment growth comes at a time when the state has raised the bar in science and when public schools are facing more stringent state and federal health and safety standards. Moreover, Austin schools are being held back by outdated technology and infrastructure. It’s time to upgrade.

That is why we’re urging voters to pass all three propositions in the $343 million bond package on the ballot May 10. Early voting began Monday and continues this week.

Today, we examine Proposition 1, the largest of the three bond propositions on the ballot at $187.8 million. It is a no-frills package that would make room for the district’s ballooning enrollment, refresh technology and upgrade science labs. We recommend that voters pass Proposition 1 and here’s why:

For some time, Linder Elementary School in South Central Austin has been bursting at the seams. It was built for 600 students, but 931 children are enrolled there this year. About $24 million of the bond package would go toward building a new 24-classroom school to house a pre-kindergarten and early childhood center at Linder. Too many students start behind in Austin, and this would help change that and ease crowding.

Another $27.6 million would be dedicated to a future elementary school, including buying land. And Langford Elementary in Southeast Austin, which has as many portable classrooms outside of its building as permanent ones inside, would be expanded. Hart and Barrington Elementary schools also would get new classrooms to ease crowding.

Another costly item - adding and expanding science labs -amounts to an unfunded mandate by the state. Increased state graduation standards require students to take four years of science, and those courses mostly are accompanied by labs. That additional lab space must be created, and it will cost about $36.3 million to do that.

The most expensive item is replacing 36,000 outmoded classroom computers. The district has found a smarter way to do that by using mobile computer labs that can be rolled from one classroom to the next instead of supplying each student with a laptop or stationary computer.

The $69.8 million technology upgrade also will include something parents and teachers want and need - a new online grade book system that allows teachers to post daily grades and attendance in real time . Parents will be able to check those postings from home or work.

That would give parents and teachers a much-needed tool to track their students’ progress and attendance before students flunk courses or rack up numerous absences. Parents have long complained that by the time they know that their children are failing or chronically skipping school, it’s too late to improve within a grading period.

We are recommending that voters pass Proposition 1, which would add about $9 a year per $100,000 assessed valuation to a property owner’s tax bill. We realize that this is not the ideal time to pass a bond package because of a slowdown in the economy. But if we don’t supply students and teachers the tools they need to succeed, it will cost taxpayers more later to deal with adults who aren’t equipped for college or work.

Highlights of the technology portion of Prop 1 include: 

1.  Gradebook Software - The district’s current grade book program is known as Integrade Pro, which is end-of-life, meaning its proprietary company will not be supporting it for much longer.  The new program will have increased capability and will provide parents with near real time access to daily grades.  $1.5 m

2.  Student Storage – This item will upgrade student and campus storage systems to increase storage quotas needed for homework, project, and other classroom file storage needs.  $.45 m 

3.  Special Education Software and Hardware - This item will bring specialized, assistive technologies to special ed students, improving overall literacy, eliminating achievement gaps, and increasing independent communication skills.  It will also prepare students to take grade-level accountability tests.  $1.5 m 

4.  Upgrade Emergency Power Supply System – This is needed to ensure enough power to support 911 emergency services during power failures.  $.3 m  

5.  Upgrade Telephone Outage Monitoring Equipment – This will replace end-of-life telecom monitoring equipment.  $.3 m

6.  Document Management System  - This item would manage hard copy archives and electronic active files to comply with retention rules and increase efficiency.  $4 m  

7.  Student Information System – This is needed to replace the district’s current student information system known as SASI, because the company who owns it will no longer be renewing it.  It will contain grades, attendance, discipline, and schedules.  This information gathered by this software is used to report to state and federal agencies.  $7 m

8.  IFAS and Enterprise Servers/Storage/Archive – End-of-life servers and the archive system will be replaced, along with upgrading financial and enterprise servers.  $.6 m 

9.  Wireless Upgrade – Davis, Doss, Hill, Summitt, and Murchison, along with 21 other campuses, will receive the wireless capability that all other AISD schools have.  $1.1 m

10. PA Upgrade – Upgrade campus PA/Clock/Bell systems.  $.4 m

11.  Presentation Systems – Large-screen computer video presentation systems, document cameras, and audio systems will be introduced to 2/3 of the classrooms in the district, bringing old campuses up to the technology standards of newer campuses.  $9.2 m 

12.  Student Response/Slates – Interactive classroom devices, including student polling devices (aka handheld clickers) and interactive slates and boards will be placed in classrooms.  $1.5 m

13.  Data Warehouse – This will bring together data that is currently stored in 22 different application stores, providing for easier reporting at the local, state, and federal levels.  $2 m 

14.  Mobile Cart Chassis  - Also known as COWS, this item will make available classroom sets of laptops that can be moved throughout a school and shared as needed.  $.8 m

15.  Campus Technology Refresh – Over a four-year period, all obsolete desktop and laptop compters and printers will be replaced.  Peripheral items such as cameras, digital microscopes, probes, hand-held devices and software are also included.  $39.2 m

Please remember that early voting starts April 28 and runs through May 6.  We have worked so hard in our neighborhoods to bring needed classrooms and critical renovations to our Anderson HS vertical team schools.  Do not think that someone else will pass these bonds for us.  We must get out to vote.  If not early, then on May 10. 

Pro school bond yard signs have been printed and are available.  If you’d like one, contact Julie Cowan at Jscowan@aol.com. 

Update on the 2004 bond work:  the Board of Trustees recently approved a contract for $364,900 with M.B. Home Construction Services to renovate restrooms, expand the cafeteria and kitchen, and replace air conditioning units at Doss Elementary.  This is part of the 2004 bond package.