MAHOMET —The Mahomet-Seymour Community Unit School District 3 is asking voters to approve bonds for an $84-million plan to build a new junior high school.
Henry Turek is a sixth-grade history teacher at the current Mahomet-Seymour Junior High. He said the building has 200 more students than it was meant for – and that becomes obvious when students try to get to class.
“Students are getting bumped and jostled in the hallway, not necessarily because anyone’s not paying attention or doing it, just because it’s a busy hallway,” he explained.
Turek said students also can’t go to the bathroom between classes because there are too few stalls compared to the number waiting in line.
This is the fourth time in recent years that Mahomet-Seymour has asked voters to approve a bond referendum to pay for school construction. The other three referenda failed. This one is different because it wouldn’t raise property taxes, using strategies like focusing on one building instead of other schools with issues. The district has also been getting more money from sales taxes and higher property values than in the past.
Douglas Beckett lives in Mahomet. He says he plans to vote in favor of this referendum because it doesn’t raise taxes.
“People can’t afford to pay more taxes. There’s only so much money to go around,” Beckett added. “I mean, there are some very successful people in the area, but not everyone’s Donald Trump and Elon Musk.”
Beckett opposed the other referenda but didn’t live in town at the time. He said his Mahomet neighbors seem to feel the same way as he does.
Board of Education President Jordan Rock is seeing more support for the referendum this time as well. He said the number of yard signs in favor, plus the tone of Facebook posts and responses to school district surveys, point to approval. Rock was involved in the earlier referenda and said this feels different than the previous ones.
“That’s what’s driving my optimism, but it’s cautious optimism because I’ve had my heart broken before,” he said. “So I will hold that hope until Tuesday night and until we learn the final results.”