Most of our dedicated readers know that the Ludington Area School District (LASD) has been reviewing a variety of plans in order to update the district's buildings with either building renovations, consolidations, and/or new structures.  At the last public meeting on October 10th, they presented five options, all of which presented a large bill for the taxpayers.

Realistically, either of these options are going to be tough to afford by Mason County taxpayers that have consistently proven their generosity by seemingly passing every millage request and renewal that comes before them.  But the time is almost here where the school board will choose one of these options (or even another option) to put forth to the voters in the district to approve.  The LASD has been fairly transparent in the process, establishing a web page with relevant materials for the public.

If you live in the district, you may have received this in the mail the last couple of days:

Surprisingly, while they encourage district members to take their survey, they do not encourage the folks to attend the November 19, 2018 meeting (6 PM at the Central Business Office), where the board is scheduled to accept the final recommendation, which may or may not reflect the public's responses to the survey.  Here's a link to the survey, take it if you haven't already.

If you have a strong position on what should be done, you may want to attend this meeting to reinforce your points to the school board.  In December, the board will (likely) approve a PQ application to the Michigan Dept. of Treasury, which may be approved on January 3rd at their meeting, and sent back to the LASD, which will have two new members:  Leona Ashley and Scott Foster.  They both have a presence on Facebook: LA and SF, just in case you want to see how they stand.

So, if you are disappointed by the December choice by the board, you may still be able to influence the new members (and any old board members that may not have been completely pleased by the December vote) if you can present them with a valid argument against whatever is chosen.  Remember, the voters of the school district have the ultimate say on whether they accept the increased millage, whatever it turns out to be, and it will be strongly marketed even if it's the cheapest option (if just under $100 million can be called cheap).