The Brandywine School District will hold a second tax referendum May 17th, but to reverse the 163 vote loss it suffered in its first try last month some residents say the district needs to communicate better.
District officials and the Brandywine School Board heard criticism earlier this week at a public meeting that they failed to engage - and educate - voters about the nuts and bolts of the referendum, and what it means for taxpayers.
A number of people voiced concern that the district was trying to sneak a vote past community members, particularly those without kids in the school system.
Sharpley Civic Association member Charlene Gaynor says she felt blind-sighted by what she calls a lack of communication before last month’s failed referendum vote.
“For me, it was the lack of transparency. If you’re just communicating on your website all of those people who are not part of your school community are excluded. So the turf was like the frosting on the cake for me, like, are they kidding us?" said Gaynor.
Gaynor claims a similar thing happened during the last Brandywine referendum in 2012, which she says also came ‘out of the blue.’ In response, she started an online neighborhood forum to start sharing information on local issues like school referendums
And while Gaynor is pleased the controversial turf field proposal won’t be part of the second referendum, she says there is a lingering perception the school district is trying to sneak the referendum through - a perception that will only go away with more public engagement.
Brandywine Superintendent Mark Holodick says the district was definitely not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, but after seeing only 7,621 residents vote last month, he agrees more needs to be done to clearly communicate the district’s ask and the potential $8 million in cuts that would happen if it fails again
“If we do our due diligence and communicate this effectively I believe it will pass. But we need to go into it with our eyes wide open and recognize that if it doesn’t pass things are going to look a whole lot - and operate a whole lot - differently next year,” said Holodick.
Holodick thinks social media can play a key role in outreach. He says the district also plans to hold four large community meetings. He’s also considering mailing a voters guide out to all 50,000 prospective voters, but adds that comes with a price tag.
“I understand - as one of the community members pointed out - it doesn’t really matter what we do, I think we’re going to be criticized that we just didn’t do enough. I think putting out a voter guide to all 50,000 residents is going to be costly but at this point I think it’s the right thing to do,” said Holodick.
A referendum steering committee will discuss outreach strategy at its meeting Monday night at 7 at Mount Pleasant Elementary School.
