By a margin of just 55 votes out of 3,443 votes cast, taxpaying residents of the Northern Wells school district voted on Tuesday against spending $15 million to renovate Norwell High School.
The result was 1,749 "no" votes and 1,694 "yes" votes, which led school board president Gene Donaghy to tell the Bluffton News-Banner that the real losers are the students. "This was a big loss for the education of our kids," he said.
Donaghy added, "We will continue to provide the same level of excellent education we have always provided, but in a building that is badly in need of major repair. For our students, it means continuing to attend classes in a building sorely lacking in many respects.
"We really missed an opportunity to save money with financing rates that are unheard-of and construction costs that are lower than they have possibly ever been."
School Superintendent Scott Mills said, "We missed a great opportunity to get the high school back in shape at a very reasonable cost" and noted that the high school's problems "aren't going to go away."
Copyright © 2012 The Decatur Daily Democrat