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Vote for 3B to improve Bayfield schools

Please vote YES on Ballot Measure 3B in support of the Bayfield School District.

This measure will provide funds to build a badly needed new school for grades 3 through 5 and to upgrade our existing elementary school so that we can move our youngest students out of inappropriate and aged facilities downtown.

The district's long-term strategic plan has included a new school for more than a decade. Just adding full-time kindergarten in 2005 immediately overwhelmed the current elementary school.

Continued growth in enrollment has made Bayfield Elementary one of the biggest elementary schools in the state. The district has heroically patched together facilities for primary students and challenged staff to work in a hodgepodge of buildings while waiting to determine that the student numbers would really justify a new school.

Well, they have.

Dedicated staff, generally high quality facilities and programs, and involved students and families continue to make Bayfield schools successful and to attract families to our district. Student counts continue to trend upwards, especially in the youngest grades.

After the 2009 economic downturn, the district was able to contract the 40-acre site now proposed for the new school at a reasonable price. which voters approved in 2012. This is the best possible site for a new Bayfield school: conveniently in town and near other schools, walkable for many students, near utilities, and large enough for both current needs and some future projects.

The time to build is now. We've patched together primary grade facilities long enough; district staff and students deserve better. Colorado Department of Education agrees: they ranked our primary school as their highest priority school replacement project and will contribute $8.6 million to help with construction costs if we approve Ballot Measure 3B.

Let's not lose that state grant!

Bayfield's strong school district is a big asset to our community, and we need a new, modern school for our growing student population.

Please vote YES on Ballot Measure 3B.

Barbara Wickman

Former Bayfield Board of Education director and president