PCSD Omits Info of Dixon Move on Ballot

On April 23, 2019, Provo City School District’s board decided what it was going to include in the 2019 school bond. Though unpopular, they decided that if the bond passed they would leave the 1931 Dixon building and build new near Footprinter Park in west Provo.

This was the language from that meeting:

“I move that we proceed with a public information plan for a school construction bond initiative in the amount of $245 million, and for the following projects: for school safety and security upgrades and adjustments throughout the district...for the reconstruction of a middle school on a property adjacent to Footprinter Park...

Motion by McKay Jensen, second by Rebecca Nielsen.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Aye: Julie Rash, McKay Jensen, Jim Pettersson, Rebecca Nielsen, Melanie Hall, Jennifer Partridge, Nate Bryson”

In early October 2019 the district sent out a mailer that included the official language that would be placed on the bond. Notably, it did not include any mention of their controversial plan to move Dixon Middle.

Not only does the official bond language omit this huge detail, but also the district's four-page Voter Information Packet that they mailed to every resident makes no mention of it.

We asked the school board in their October 3 bond information meeting at Dixon Middle why they chose to omit this information. Superintendent Keith Rittel told us only that the bond counsel (the district's lawyers) told them to do it.

The school board deliberately withholding this information is dishonest and manipulative. Provo voters deserve an accurate portrayal of not only the explicit but also the implied consequences of a yes or no vote. By withholding their plans to move Dixon from the ballot and in their official publications, the district is showing that they are uninterested in providing voters with either.

We must ask ourselves as citizens and taxpayers, if the school district is willing to go to such lengths to avoid addressing a basic, though unpopular, fact to pass their preferred version of a bond, what other unflattering details about their plans are they hiding from voters? If we cannot count on our school board to be open and honest about these critical impacts, how can we trust their other assurances they have made regarding the bond? The final page of the information packet, where the district claims to be “committed to integrity and transparency through this entire process” rings hollow. We deserve better. Join us in voting no.