How Important is our school to our community?

This article and accompanying photographs was written by Keith Brake and can be found at http://www.clownsiniowa.com/:

How important is it to us that our school remain a unifying force at work in our Montezuma community?

Versteeg weighs in on what's at stake

Members of the Support M.O.N.T.E. team have been meeting with community residents about the Sept. 14 school bond election.

They have received plenty of input, which has been relayed to school superintendent Dave Versteeg.

Versteeg has responsded, focusing on three areas that will be impacted by the result of the election: Financial, community and students.

We will examine students and community in this piece.

STUDENTS

Versteeg says voter approval of this project will help our students in these ways:

- "Having a modern heating and cooling system will dramatically improve the learning environment in the building," Versteeg said.
- "Having a modern cooling system will allow students to attend more school as missed days and/or early-outs for heat will be eliminated."
- "Improvements to the fire and safety systems will make the building more secure in case of emergencies."

- "Having handicapped-accessible bathrooms will greatly aid several students each year."

- "Rooms will be better-equipped for the use of technology and other teaching strategies that will help students learn and grow."

- "Having a more modern building is impressive to new famlies and new staff," Versteeg said. "It would greatly help us in recruiting and retaining staff members and in talking to prospective students and famlies about why our school is great."


Do we still have a passion for our MONTEZUMA teams and activities?

COMMUNITY

- "Keith Brake had an excellent editorial recently on his website," Versteeg said. "Check it out."
- "The community-wide survey taken by Monte 2020 in May of 2009 is evidence that the community values the school and will support this project," Versteeg says. "Keeping a K-12 school in Montezuma was ranked number four by that survey," the superintendent said. "'Educational excellence' was ranked number five. And 'improve school facilities and buildings' was ranked number 10," he said.
- "The school is a vital aspect of our community," Versteeg said. "The community needs the school to be an institution that can offer a first-class, quality education to all students. It needs to be a pre-K through12 school for many years to come. It needs to be a facility that can be used for a variety of purposes by the community. It is time to make a financial investment in the physical building that will last for many years to come," Versteeg said.

- "Communities are very competitive with one another in this part of Iowa," Versteeg said. "Parents don't mind commuting for work. Many people in Montezuma commute to another community for work and many out-of-towners commute to Montezuma for work. People have many choices on where they live and work," the superintendent said. "To keep the current residents of Montezuma and have a chance of attracting more, we need to approve this facility plan for the school. The school is a vital part of our community's identity. Having a modern, up-to-date building has to be a vital part of keeping the Montezuma community vibrant and alive."