Emotion, passion and just plain facts were all part of the kickoff of the The Say Yes to JCHS campaign Tuesday night at the C. L. Hoover Opera House.

This is the community based effort to obtain voter approval of a bond issue for the proposed new Junction City High School. If voters approve the bond issue on November 7th the State of Kansas will pay 47% of the cost of that new school, with federal heavily impacted military aid providing the rest of the needed funding. No increase is being sought in the local property tax levy.

Campaign committee co-chair Terrah Stroda told a packed meeting room at the Opera House, “Tonight we raise our voices in unity with one message. Say yes to JCHS. On Tuesday November 7th we will be one voice. On that day we will vote a resounding yes to a bond issue that will build our students and community a new high school.”

State Representative Lonnie Clark noted the State has approved the bond issue. “So if the bond passes the election on November 7th then the State is obligated to pay the 47%.  That’s not an if and or but, that’s an obligation of the State, it’s in the laws of Kansas so people can quit worrying about that part of it.”

JCHS Principal Melissa Sharp said no other district in Kansas has access to the funds like USD 475 has, “as a result of being Junction City and Fort Riley.” The district qualifies for the heavily impacted aid money because of the substantial number of military family related students attending schools in the district.

Sharp emphasized that the stars are aligning. “Nobody in the state received that heavy impact aid and only 26 other districts in the nation received that funding. So for me to say the stars are aligning the right way is accurate.”

A group of students from the school district attended the kickoff of the campaign, and  one of them, JCHS senior Abby Khoury, explained the need for a new building that has sufficient space allowing for each of the career clusters to thrive and opportunities for students to have access to tools to help them reach their full academic potential.

A parent of two current high school students Jodie Wilkey referred to some of the  “amazing kids” that have been through adversity,  do not live in the most expensive homes or wear the most expensive clothes but do work hard. “And they are the kids that walk the halls of the schools in our district.”

Wilkey said she has driven many of them to sporting events across Kansas, and referred to the conversations the kids have had as they drove into some of the new schools across the state. “I have heard the kids acknowledge that their school is nothing like the one’s that these other kids have. I’ve heard them stand up for our own town because another kid from somewhere else has asked them why would you want to go to JC. I’ve seen the looks on their faces and it’s obvious to me that they only dream of having a school like that to call their own. But don’t forget they still stand proud!”

November 7th is election day.