Ray-Pec Parents,
In my very first email to you on July 1, I wrote of the work we needed to accomplish this school year in addition to getting ready to welcome students back to school. One element of that work was the continuation of developing a long range facility plan to put us in a position to meet the challenges of current and future enrollment increases.
A Community Survey
As part of our long-range facility planning process, we are considering a potential bond issue election in April 2021. We anticipate a no-tax-rate-increase bond issue to provide funding for projects to support the District's growth in enrollment and need to maintain its current facilities.
The Board of Education and our planning team would like more feedback from our community before developing a ballot proposal. We are partnering with ExcellenceK12, an education consulting firm, to conduct a survey. Beginning on Friday, Sept. 18, ExcellenceK12 will begin contacting patrons in the District via a phone call. To generate the statistically valid sample, 300 phone calls will be randomly made to members of the Ray-Pec community. If you do not receive a phone call, but would like to participate in the survey, an online opportunity to complete the survey will also be available. The link to the survey will be made available tomorrow in the Raymore-Peculiar School News newsletter.
Our Planning Work Thus Far
As a way of review, we began updating the long-range facility plan last year with the assistance of community input. In March, just before schools closed due to the pandemic, we held community meetings to share the planning process with the public and to gather feedback. Read more
Last spring, community input indicated these top priorities:
- A high school facility to accommodate coming enrollment increases (either a freshman center, career/technical center, or smaller comprehensive high school)
- Potential ancillary facilities (among those are an aquatics center, athletic fields, performing arts center, tennis courts)
- Needed maintenance to existing facilities
The survey that will begin on Friday is designed to help clarify these priorities so that the Board of Education will have as much information as possible in determining the appropriate next steps for the Ray-Pec community.
This is an exciting time for Ray-Pec Schools in planning for the future. Thank you for your willingness to participate in the survey, either by phone or online.
And, as always, thank you for entrusting your children to the Ray-Pec School District.
Mike Slagle
I am passionately driven by the belief that Everyone Is Created To Flourish
