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C.P. schools defeat stuns supporters By Vicki Guarino Central Point school bond supporters saw apparent victory fade into defeat in the final count of absentee ballots Friday. The $36.7 million measure to build two new schools and expand others failed 4,058 to 3,867 -- 51 percent to 49 percent. The final, unofficial count was a bitter reversal for district campaigners who had a four-vote lead after polls closed on Tuesday night. The new count includes a near-record number of absentee ballots, which took Jackson County elections staff three days to add up. "This is so sad; I'm sad for the kids," said Janet Crawford, a Sams Valley parent who worked on citizens committees that drafted the massive capital improvement plan and campaigned for it -- twice. "I'm really shocked," Crawford said. "I was completely convinced we had this won this time." In May the measure won by popular vote, but failed because the voter participation fell short of the state's 50 percent voter turnout requirement. Superintendent Mike McClain said Friday that low voter turnout led to the defeat again this week, but for a different reason. Although there was no turnout minimum attached to Tuesday's general election, too few parents chose to vote. "We still have less than half of our voters this time," McClain said. Polling results will have obvious consequences for the district's 4,500-plus students. The need for contingency plans such as split shifts, longer school days and redrawing school boundaries has become more real and more urgent, McClain said. A committee to be formed next week to begin redrawing school enrollment areas will need to move quickly and perhaps broaden its look at schools and students' needs, McClain said. "I suspect there will be some people who will be upset with what we'll have to do, but so be it," McClain said. "It won't be business as usual, that's for sure." Crater High School, Hanby Middle School and Central Point city elementary schools already are overcrowded. Hanby and Central Point Elementary additionally are about 90 years old and have serious structural and mechanical deficiencies, say administrators and the citizens groups that have examined district needs over the years. And more residential growth within the district is coming. Some 1,000 homes are under development in Central Point. "We know we're going to get a lot more kids," McClain said. Those new students will suffer along with current students, Crawford predicted. "This whole situation is so incredibly sad for the kids," Crawford said. "I don't have any words to describe how sad I am for the kids in this district." The accommodations made for crowded classrooms now likely will have to serve for several years. Although a final decision on any new bond measure would be up to the school board, neither McClain nor Crawford envisions a measure going back to voters before 2000. That is the next scheduled election in which the 50 percent turnout rule would be lifted. McClain said he doubted that the district could ever get both enough voters and enough "yes" votes to pass a bond measure at any other time. Besides, said Crawford, the proposal defeated this week was the product of six years of study and a year of campaigning by volunteers. The campaigners have worked through two elections in six months, she said, and need a break. "We're all kind of numb right now," McClain agreed. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA