The McLeod West School Board voted unanimously to keep the district as a K-12, rather than a K-8, at its Wednesday night meeting (April 9).

A final tally of results from a survey mailed to 1,461 households in the district was not discussed.

According to consultant Tony Boyer, speaking at a public forum the previous Thursday (April 3), one of the questions asked if residents would support a 7-12 school at the Brownton site and a K-6 at the former Stewart school, funded through a lease levy, as a way to bring Stewart and Brownton together. The question was based on the inaccurate assumption that the state would allow a school district to lease property it formerly owned.

At the previous forum, Boyer said the question garnered 152 “yes” responses and 114 “no” responses. Also, 146 respondents said they would support an additional $595 per resident pupil operating levy, and 127 said they wouldn’t.

This preliminary tally took place the day before the deadline to return surveys and Boyer said only a few more responses came in, which is why he believes the board did not discuss the final numbers Wednesday night.

On Thursday, the district announced 230 respondents supported both a K-12 district and operating levy, while 240 said they would not support both.

Superintendent Tom Hiebert said the board also voted to make the first steps toward preparing an operating levy referendum for November. Hiebert presented a revised budget showing a projected negative balance of $743,167 in the district’s general unreserved fund by the end of the current school year.

In other business, the board voted to appoint the McLeod County Chronicle as its official newspaper because The Bulletin, which serves Brownton and Stewart, will merge with the Chronicle effective April 30. Both the Chronicle and Bulletin are owned by McLeod Publishing Inc. of Glencoe.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com [1])