Rundown on the West Ada School District Bond Proposal

Voters will go to the polls March 10 to cast their votes regarding the West Ada School District's bond proposal. If you're not in town March 10, early voting has started at Ada County Elections at 400 N. Benjamin Lane, Suite 100, Boise, or you can request an absentee ballot at https://adacounty.id.gov/elections. Since it is a bond proposal, it does need a two-thirds majority to pass.

Here's what being proposed:

Two middle schools
One school would be located on the west side of Stoddard Road, across from Bear Creek Subdivision. The second would be located north of Beacon Light Road and East of Pollard Lane in Star, Idaho.  The schools would primarily relieve Lake Hazel Middle School, which is has a capacity of 1,000 students with enrollment this year of 1452.  The middle school that would relieve the overcrowding at Lake Hazel Middle School would open for fall of 2016. The second middle school, located in Star, would relieve the overcrowding at Eagle Middle School, which is 250 students over its 1,000 student capacity. This new middle school would also help with overcrowding at Heritage Middle School, which is currently 162 students over capacity. This middle school would open for the fall of 2018. Both of these schools would be built using the same design as the middle schools that have been built in the district since the opening of Eagle Middle in 1995 and would have a 1,000 student capacity.
Cost: $60 million

One elementary school 
This school would relieve the overcrowding being experienced by the schools south of I-84. All of these schools -- Siena, Mary McPherson, Lake Hazel, Desert Sage, and Silver Sage Elementary -- have more students than their design capacity. The new elementary school would be built near the intersection of Eagle and Amity. Because this school is planned to be a joint facility with the YMCA, the school district will save approximately $2 million on the project by not having to build some common infrastructure, including the gymnasium.
Cost: $10 million

Remodel and expansion of Meridian High School 
Meridian High School has been under construction for the past two years, a project that will result in improving the academic classroom space in the building and also increasing its capacity by 200 seats. The current remodel project has been funded by the school district's voter-approved Plant Facility Levy. The project has an additional 5 phases to reach completion. Each phase will take an additional fiscal year to fund if paid for using Plant Facility Levy revenue. The Bond Committee that made the bond levy recommendation favored shortening that construction time by 2-3 years and also freeing up Plant Levy revenue for other building maintenance projects. Once completed, Meridian High will have a capacity of 2350, helping to reduce overcrowding at Rocky Mountain High School and Mountain View High School.
Cost: $24 million

Future land acquisition
With the available amount of land that is still able to be developed across the school district, more schools will need to be built in the future as enrollment continues to increase. While 8-10 acre elementary sites are not too difficult to acquire, 30-50 acre sites for future middle and high school can be more difficult to purchase, and tend to be more expensive if purchased when rooftops are already being constructed.  This revenue would be used to purchase a future high school sites west of Ten Mile Road, where development is beginning to occur.
Cost: $2 million

Impact on the levy rate 
The following chart shows the current amounts levied for each of the district's voter-approved measures. These include the Plant Facility Levy (used to maintain current buildings) the Supplemental Levy (used to fund school operations) and the payments on past voter-approved bonds going back to 1998. The column on the left shows the amount levied this year. The levy rate is determined by dividing that amount by the total taxable value of the property in the school district. The column on the right shows the amounts that were levied this year. As promised in the August bond election, the levy rate this year decreased by $39 per $100,000 of taxable property value. Because of increasing property values in the district, the combined rate for the Plant, Supplemental, and Bond levies will remain $399 per $100,000 of taxable value with the passage of the proposed bond.
 

2014-15 Taxable Value 14,024,766,151 Levy Amount Levy Rate Plant $20,000,000 0.001425011 Supplemental 14,000,000 0.000991475 Bond 22,084,226 0.001573513 0.003989999

In summary, the total levy rate this year decreased from $438.25 per $100,000 in taxable value to $399 per $100,000 in taxable property value. This rate will remain the same next year.

Million Minutes Family Reading Night

Celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday and the NEA's Read Across America Day by joining Discovery families for the Million Minutes Family Reading Night from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Monday, March 2.

Come with your family
Come read together, do!
Bring lots of books
And hopefully, YOU!
Wear your comfy pajamas
Bring a pillow or two.
The minutes will add up
We hope more than a few!

There will be fun for the whole family, with prize drawings, Dr. Seuss book giveaways, Dreyer's ice cream for $2 a cup, and Discovery spirit wear for sale. And don't miss the special guests who are will be arriving at 7:15 p.m. All minutes read by your family will be counted toward Discovery's Million Minute Reading Challenge.

Discovery Partners with Jump Rope for Heart Program

Discovery Elementary is again partnering with the American Heart Association's Jump Rope for Heart program. Jump Rope for Heart focuses on healthy living, physical fitness, and community service.

The event is taking place this week at school during PE classes. Donation envelopes have also been sent home to students in grades one through five. For every $1,000 students raise, Discovery will receive a $100 U.S. Games gift certificate to use for PE equipment that the whole school can enjoy. Students who bring back a donation envelope will receive a bookmark and a sticker, and the classroom that brings back the most envelopes will receive an extra session of PE!

Students can raise contributions in person or online. Here's a link that shows you how to sign up for the Discovery team online: http://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@fdr/documents/downloadable/ucm_447273.pdf.  All donations are due by Friday, Feb. 20!

Discovery Readers Pass Halfway Mark in Reading Challenge

Discovery readers continue to read their way to 1 million minutes as part of the Million Minutes Reading Challenge.

After tallying the January totals, students were at 500,178 minutes. We have three months to reach our goal so we can reward the students at the Million Minutes Reading Celebration on Friday, May 1.

The top readers for January were:

• A boy from Mrs. Kotmel's preschool class who read 450 minutes;
• A boy from Mrs. Jayne's kindergarten class who read 640 minutes;
• A boy from Mrs. Davison's first-grade class who read 1,150 minutes;
• A boy from Mrs. Hoppe's second-grade class who read 1,100 minutes;
• A girl from Mr. Runyan's third-grade class who read 2,672 minutes (she also has been a top reader for three months in a row);
• A boy from Mrs. Spenner's fourth-grade class who read 1,755 minutes;
• A boy from Mrs. Wright's fifth-grade class who read 2,389 minutes (he also has been a top reader for three months in a row); and
• A girl from Mrs. Wright's fifth-grade class who read 2,700 minutes!

Congratulations to all of our top readers and all the other students who have been turning in reading calendars!

Continue to keep track of your minutes for February! It is due back to teachers on Monday, March 2, which also will be our Family Reading Night at Discovery (stay tuned for details). The top reader in each classroom for February will receive a $10 gift certificate to use at the spring book fair. Need the reading calendar? Find it here: http://discoverypta.blogspot.com/2015/02/february-reading-calendars-now-available.html

Students to 'Get Real' During White Ribbon Week

Discovery students will be learning about making smart and safe choices online and with other media each day next week, Feb. 9-13. This year's White Ribbon Week theme is "Let's Get Real!"

Students will be encouraged to memorize a message called a "reality boost" each day. At lunchtime, they can participate in an activity after they recite and discuss the reality boost. Please help by discussing these messages at home.

Each reality boost will also correspond with a dress-up day.

Monday:
Active Wear Day: Unplug–get active in real life! (i.e., team jerseys, sweats, sweatshirts, etc.)

Tuesday:
Inside Out Day: Your clothes might not seem right today. When things aren't right online, "tell today, don't delay!"

Wednesday:
Crazy Sock Day: We're crazy about being kind online!

Thursday:
Sunglasses Day: I can spy what's real or not real online.

Friday:
White-Out Day: We're celebrating White Ribbon awareness and making smart and safe choices online.

Please email photos of your child having a "real-life" experience during the week. Please send to slocum.melissa@westada.org  by Wednesday, Feb. 11. They will be part of a slideshow at the end of the week to celebrate their successes.

Let Your Groceries Earn Donations for Discovery

Parents, grandparents, family, and friends can help earn money for Discovery Elementary by shopping at Rosauers in Meridian or any Fred Meyer.

After shopping at Rosauers, just drop your receipt in the Discovery box at the front of the store through May 1. The store has set up a Groceries for Good School Partnership Program to help support local schools' learning and extracurricular activities. At the end of the collection period, it will divvy up its $10,000 donation to the schools based on the total dollar value of receipts.

We're off to a late start, but three months still remain to contribute receipts at Rosauers!

Fred Meyer also is donating $2.5 million to nonprofits across the Northwest. You can sign up for Fred Meyer's Community Rewards program by linking your rewards card to Discovery. You'll still get all of the benefits of your rewards card, like fuel points and rebates, as well as help the school.

To link your rewards card to Discovery, go to https://www.fredmeyer.com/topic/community-rewards-4 and search for the school by name or its nonprofit number, 94609. If you don't have a rewards card, go to any Fred Meyer customer service desk to sign up for one.

Why not let your trips to the grocery store help your students' school?

February Reading Calendars Now Available

January certainly flew by, and now we already are starting to plan classroom Valentine's Day parties and buy valentines to hand out. Where has the time gone?

Even though we are in the shortest month of the year and have valentines on our mind, we need to keep students motivated about reading outside of school! We hope they've gotten into the good habit of grabbing a book in the evening and logging some minutes for Discovery's Million Minute Reading Challenge.

The Discovery PTA is confident that the students will succeed in hitting the million-minute mark and has already started planning for our fun-filled celebratory event on the evening of Friday, May 1. Students have three months to go, and every minute counts!

The February calendars will be coming home in backpacks this week, but it's also located below if you want to print it out. They are due back to teachers on Monday, March 2, which will also be our Million Minutes Family Reading Night at the school (as well as Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday).

The top reader for each class in February will receive a $10 gift certificate for Discovery's Spring Book Fair in March.