City council unanimously passes resolution in support
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Matt Caban • The Madill Record A LOOK INTO THE POSSIBLE FUTURE A rendering of what the proposed Madill Event Center will look like with the passing of the school bond vote on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Madill voters are set to decide the fate of a school bond benefitting Madill Public Schools on Tuesday, September 10. Among the improvements detailed in the bond are the addition of new STEM-focused classrooms and a construction of a new 1,500-person capacity event center.
The current Madill gym seats 900 people and was built in 1977.
According to data provided by Madill Public Schools, in 2002 the district had a total student count of 1,493 students enrolled in pre-k through 12th grade.
By 2017, enrollment had grown to 1,827 at MPS. That marks growth of 334 additional students.
Madill Public Schools provided an example of increases to taxes if the bond passes.
“With this bond proposal, a previous tax amount of $100 would see a yearly increase of $8.50 or $0.71 per month; or a tax amount of $200 would be a yearly increase of $17.00 or $1.42 per month,” said Larry Case, Madill Public Schools superintendent.
The bond has a STEM component since Madill Public Schools are not part of a Career Tech system,
Case said.
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, he said.
“STEM has a wide range of academic disciplines that will offer new opportunities for our students to participate in,” Case said in a letter to the community.
“This will help our students be better prepared for college and careers in their future.”
Madill joins its fellow Marshall County school district, Kingston Public Schools, in implementing STEM curriculum.
Kingston superitndent Brian Brister recently discussed his disctrict’s program with The Madill Record’s Shalene White. You can read that story on page 2A.
The proposal tied to the September 10 bond also includes a new event center, which will have a capacity of 1,500 people, Case said. He said the increase in seating capacity for school events will have a positive effect.
“It means there won’t be limits on tickets for graduations,” he said.
Case said if the bond passes, he wants the community to be able to regularly use the event center.
“If the city needs to have an event there, I don’t want to charge them,” Case said.
In his letter, Case explained that that event center is designed for more than sports or graduations.
“It could be used for concerts or plays for example,” he said.
A community impact
On September 3, the Madill City Council held a special meeting to show its collective support of passing the school bond.
The sole agenda item was consideration and approval of a resolution in
support of the bond.
The resolution was the brainchild of city councilmember Heath Weaver.
Weaver said he first cleared the action through City Manager James Fullingim and then Mayor Travis Williams.
“We want to support the schools as much as we can,” Weaver said. “This is not only gonna help the school and the kids, it’s also gonna in turn help the community with bringing in additional tax dollars.”
Weaver said Madill’s students and student athletes are ambassadors for the city.
“Like it was said in the meeting, this is a matter of pride,” he said.
Ahead of the vote, city manager James Fullingim said such a move was a first since he’s been with the city.
The resolution passed with a unanimous majority of 5 to 0. This included Williams, Weaver, Vice Mayor Bobby Davis, and councilmembers Shaunda Kendrix and Terry Rushing.
Several members of the community attended the mid-afternoon meeting to show their support. This included Madill Chief of Police Donald Yow and Madill Police Public Information Officer Donny Raley. Three representatives of Madill Public Schools were on hand. They were Case, Athletic Director Bink Stafford and Boys Head Basketball Coach Brett Weiberg.