Houston School District to put $9.2 million bond package before voters

HOUSTON, Miss. (WCBI) – Houston School District voters have been asked to decide the fate of a proposed $9.2 million bond package.

Teachers in the second-grade building at Houston Lower Elementary have had to find creative ways to manage airflow. That’s why teachers put barriers in all spaces in their classroom walls.

The roof also leaks.

“We need to repair the roof, so it can not have leaks when we have a downpour of rain,” said Katonga Gathings, who is principal at Houston Lower Elementary School.

She remembered sitting in the same classrooms as a kid growing up in the district and those rooms had some of the same problems that still exist.

That bond package would address roofing, HVAC and lighting at every campus.

Houston School District Superintendent Tony Cook said the repairs are years overdue.

“You put a new roof on, new windows in, put new HVACs in, much more efficient, we will save a ton of money on a month to month basis and be able to put more money back into the classroom, where it should be going,” said Cook.

At Houston Lower Elementary, when someone comes into the main office, they come in through the main door and check-in, but there’s nothing to keep them from going on into the school.

If the bond issue passed, that would change. There would be a secure holding area.

“We already have buzzer and camera systems in each primary entry to all schools.  Our plan is to put a secure entry into every school, where, just because you get into the front door doesn’t mean you’re out in the general school, area, in a secure area, have to show an ID and get buzzed in or allowed into the rest of the school,” Supt. Cook said.

Gathings said the bond issue would be an investment for the future of the community.

“This year, we were awarded the first A school in the district, our upper elementary, our school is a B school, we are looking forward to having an A, we have proven we are capable of making gains and we are asking the community to get behind us and provide the best facilities for our students,” Gathings said.

The bond vote is set for March 3.

If that bond package passed, work would start quickly on the projects.