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At Northside Elementary, “the little school with a big heart,” we come to work every day committed to educate every child who comes through our doors. Every teacher in this district can say the same thing.

We understand the financial constraints caused by the recession because we are all homeowners here in this beautiful town.

As we work in one of the oldest buildings in the district, we thought we’d share a sample of the difficulties that come with working in an aging building:

1. We had a horrible stench in the building over a year ago which took three weeks to find the source. This smell made it very difficult for teachers and students to concentrate and learn. Much hard work finally revealed that the stench came from a broken pipe under the kitchen floor, which needed to be jackhammered in order to make the repair. Our kitchen also had to be closed during this time. This work cost the taxpayers money.

2. The floor outside our kindergarten room had to be jackhammered in two places to repair leaking pipes. This cost the taxpayers money.

3. The maintenance trucks are here on a regular basis to repair all sorts of breaks or leaks in our heating system. These often soak carpets. Often in the winter when the heaters malfunction, it is quite cold until the work is accomplished, which again makes teaching and learning more difficult. These visits cost the taxpayers money.

4. In five years, we have had to replace two sets of aging doors with re-serviced doors to save money for the taxpayers.

So despite the incredible work being done by our maintenance department, these old schools are costing the taxpayers unnecessarily.

Although spending approximately $200 a year per $200,000 assessed value on the future of our kids (approximately 60 cents a day) can be a burden, we, the staff of Northside Elementary, believe the taxpayers of Bonner County will save money in the long run by passing this levy.

Thank you for believing in us. We will never let you down.

PERKY SMITH-HAGADONE

LORI PADILLA

CAROLYN WHALEN

SHANTELLE GILLIS

AMY BRADETICH

MIKE MCNELLEY

JAYNE STURM

NANCI RINALDI

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