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Salem school levy planned for May primary ballot
By CHELSEA WEIKART
SALEM
The Salem school board gave the second of two mandatory readings to a 2-mill levy that it plans to put on the May ballot.
If passed, the levy would renew the approximately $298,100 per year the school has relied on for more than two decades.
The levy would instill “no additional taxes,” said board vice president Steve Bailey. The next step is a board vote to put the levy on the May ballot.
Two years ago the board laid out goals taken from what it had learned in more than 200 door-to-door interviews in Salem.
“The people said rather than build new school buildings they would rather maintain what we have,” said Superintendent Tom Bratten.
The interest in maintaining the buildings has led to the latest uses of the levy including wireless Internet on all campus buildings, updated security cameras and systems, the renovation of the Riley wall, and other regular maintenance such as parking lots, roofing, boilers, and lintels on windows.
School security was an expected topic at the board’s meeting Thursday.
Salem police officers have gone through the buildings to offer security advice. Bailey said that parents are curious about what is being done with school safety, but the board cannot make all the plans public.
“We don’t want to tell everybody all of our plans of action in case something does happen,” said Bailey, “Our students and faculty all know what’s going on.”
On Thursday, the high school restricted its access to two doors in the morning so that all early students who enter the school can be supervised. Superintendent Bratten said this is an example of constant improvements of security policies as they come up.
“That was kind of late notice; it was a decision made very quickly and a lot of students were caught off guard ...but it was something we could start right away,” said Bratten,