by KAREN STEELE
May 17th, 2016 will be marked down as one of celebration for Umatilla County, especially for Milton-Freewater. A hundred or so eager citizens gathered in the community building to hear the results of the bond, anxiously munching on popcorn and clutching onto their root beer floats. At exactly 8:05 pm, Superintendent Rob Clark made a phone call to receive the results.
Before the official numbers were announced, Randy Grant, leader of the Milton-Freewater Downtown Alliance, gave a short speech, talking about how excited he was to see this town flourish, before introducing Karen Shelton, a seventh-grade science teacher at Central Middle School. She was the campaign advisor, and she looked out at the crowd with excitement and pride. Shelton named the individuals who had helped her along the way, and the attendees clapped for them in equal appreciation. After a few minutes, she stepped to the side and let Dr. Clark take the stage. He wasted no time getting to the point - saying that this bond could be “the best thing to happen to this town.” As he was pulling his phone out of his inside jacket pocket, he paused when a scream of delight came from Shelton. The unofficial results had been posted online: just under 80% of Milton-Freewater citizens voted yes for the school bond.
Milton-Freewater will be getting a new school. The final numbers are that 78.71 percent of the votes said yes after Tuesday’s ballot count, with 2,044 votes for and 553 against. As soon as the words were out of Dr. Clark’s mouth, the community building literally erupted with cheers and applause, to an almost-deafening level, but I didn’t mind. Despite the fact that I won’t be able to benefit from the upgrades to Central and Mac-Hi and the building of the new elementary school, I am more that excited for the future Pioneers who will. My younger brother will get to learn in better air conditioned classrooms! “Most importantly,” said Doug Hendricks, “we’ll be getting a new bus lot! So thank you for that, Milton-Freewater!”
“Bond issues don’t get 70 plus percent,” Dr. Clark said, “Bonds are 20 years and they don’t usually get that support. Even people who have historically voted no forever in Milton-Freewater said, ‘OK, we have to vote for this one.’”
The construction of Olinger Elementary will cost around roughly $23.5 million, and the rest of the money will go to upgrades and the sports complex that will replace Grove Elementary School. The bond passage qualifies the district for a grant from the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation for $15 million and a state education grant of $4 million. Clark mentioned that the demolition of the old cannery could take place as early as this fall, and construction is hoping to start in the summer of 2017. That’s only one year away!
At Echo, the $8 million from their bond will help to pay for an expansion, including three more classrooms, a school library, a second gym that is air conditioned, dedicated science labs, wood and metal shops, art rooms, and agriculture rooms, along with security cameras and a key-card system. “To vote yes is to take a stand against the waves of violence that have been crashing into one American school after another,” says Weston-McEwen student Michael Shafer, son of John Shafer, the mayor of Athena, Oregon. His letter to the editor on the local bond was published on the East Oregonian website May 6th, and he explained the seriousness of the school shootings that we’ve been facing (if you hop onto our website, you can see the link to the page). The TigerScots will also receive new heating, lights, buses, roofing, and more.
“Be ready to see Gib Olinger Elementary open their doors September 1st, 2018!” Dr. Clark closed.