School levy campaign gears up
"The high school in Carey…may have been adequate for student
needs when it was built in 1966, but in an age of mass communication, it has become
woefully inadequate."
Ken Mecham, Carey teacher
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
The election campaign for a proposed $4 million-per-year school facilities
improvement project got underway this month with a massive brochure mailing and plans for
a five-week newspaper blitz, panel discussions and more.
Ex-school board chairman Lynn Flickinger heads the 50-member
"Education for all" levy election team responsible for coordinating the election
campaign.
Organized like a well-coordinated army, the team is headed by Flickinger,
along with three lieutenants—Carey resident Richard Kimbal, County P&Z
commissioner Theresa Comber and Ketchum real estate agent Mike McCann. Each of the three
under Flickinger manages one or more of seven subcommittees that include a voter
registration committee, a promotions committee and a "yes identification"
committee responsible for recruiting levy supporters to distribute information on the
plan.
Funds for last month’s 13,500 piece mailing, newspaper ads and more
have come from donations from individual citizens and businesses.
According to Flickinger, about 75 percent of the nearly $7,000 raised so
far, has come from real estate companies, banks and developers, including McCann Daech
Fenton, Sun Valley Title, First American Title and the Sawtooth Board of Realtors.
Many people have also donated their time and services, Flickenger said,
especially for the design of the brochure.
On April 17, 18 and 19, the team plans to host a series of public
discussions at the Carey School, in Hailey and at Hemingway Elementary School. Beginning
at 7:30 p.m. each night, school superintendent Jim Lewis will give a brief overview of the
10-year facilities improvement plan, Flickinger said. Then there will be a brief panel
discussion followed by an extensive question and answer session, she said.
Meanwhile, Lewis has been promoting the facilities plan at city council
meetings and at meetings of various organizations such as the Rotary Club.
The district has set up a step-by-step presentation of the plan on its Web
site at www.bcsd.k12.id. And the "Education for all" team plans to round out its
campaign with yard signs and campaign buttons.
Other support for the levy comes from the Carey School, which has been
blitzing the Idaho Mountain Express with letters.
Student body president Leslie Peck said the facilities plan would bring
critical new technology to the school.
"Offering technical courses in high school allows the students to
explore careers and to decide on an occupation while still in high school," Peck
wrote.
"The high school in Carey…may have been adequate for student
needs when it was built in 1966," wrote Carey teacher Ken Mecham, "but in an age
of mass communication, it has become woefully inadequate."
Blaine County residents will vote on the levy on May 2.
