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Teams on both side of consolidation issue lobby causes before Tuesday's election

By MIKE ECKERT Argus-Press Staff Writer

Saturday, January 12, 2008 8:41 PM EST

Argus-Press Illustration Anthony Cepak

Over the last few weeks there have been meetings, mailings and a lot of talk about consolidation throughout the Perry and Morrice communities.

It's the final push to Tuesday's consolidation election and teams on both sides of the issue have been working hard to get their message out to the public.

“I was educating them back in November, but in the later weeks people are pretty much aware of what's at stake and what the facts are,” said Phil Vincent of Morrice, who doesn't support consolidation.

Vincent said he has been spreading the anti-consolidation word to family, friends and fellow members of his church.

The same approach has been taken by the Consolidation Team, which has been trying to get its points to the public by word-of-mouth as well.

With only a couple of days left before the election, both teams plan on working right up to the vote. And, both teams are making plans to rally on election night.

Election turnout is expected to be high Tuesday as the two districts will make history with the state's first mid-year consolidation vote.

While opinions vary greatly between the two sides, one sentiment shared between both camps is the desire to get Tuesday's election over with and find out where the communities stand.

“Our communities are going to have to come back together after this and heal,” Facts About Consolidation Team member Beth Whaley said.

All those in favor

The Consolidation Team felt it got a boost last week when the state Senate passed Senate Bill 730 with immediate effect on Wednesday.

“The big message we need to get out is about Bill 730 taking immediate effect,” CT member Kellie Wilson from Perry said. “There will be no disruption (in the school year) and we need to make sure people know that.”

The bill - featuring an amendment from state Rep. Richard Ball, R-Owosso, called for consolidation to take effect July 1, not immediately after the election as previous law stated. Gov. Jennifer Granholm received the bill Thursday and signed it Friday.

The Consolidation Team has been primarily using word-of-mouth to get its message across.

“There's a lot of that going on,” Bob Davis of Perry said. “Our group is very diverse and whenever we are at functions, we discuss consolidation and all of its merits. There has been a lot of talk about the issues.”

Talking about the issue has been a free and effective method for the CT.

“It's so hard for us to get information out there,” CT member Karen Watson said. “We're just community members and have limited resources. We are using our own money for this because we believe in our kids.”

Davis said the group has done some mailings to voters and has also held public meetings.

The Consolidation Team held an informal presentation last Tuesday at Perry High School. Paul Bergan and Becky Meier of Berrien County were featured presenters as informants on topics such as curriculum development and career pathways.

“I was incredibly impressed, it was very upbeat and positive looking ahead,” Wilson said. “It was very exciting to look at what we might be able to accomplish if we work together.”

The Consolidation Team also went about getting its own research in the last few weeks before the election.

Watson - a Morrice graduate who lives in Perry and has had children attend school in the district - contacted Michigan State University professor Frederick Ignatovich, who completed a school projection report in December.

Watson said a lot of time and work went into using Ignatovich's research and data collected from the Department of Education to project where declining enrollment numbers at Perry and Morrice could end up.

“It's not something we want, that's for sure,” Watson said.

While some road signs supporting consolidation popped up in both communities during the final weeks before the vote, the Consolidation Team said that wasn't their focus.

“Signs haven't been that important to us,” Wilson said. “We feel consolidation is more important than can be explained on a yard sign.”

In Morrice, though, placing signs became important with numerous consolidation opponents putting up large homemade billboards broadcasting their message.

“We thought it was quite important to see that people were not afraid to put their outlook out there,” Chris Pohlod of Morrice said. “A lot of them aren't on the main drag, so they're hard to see.”

Heading into the final days of the election, the team members said they weren't nervous about what Tuesday might bring.

“Whether or not it happens, people are a whole lot more aware of the problems with our schools, not just locally, but statewide,” Davis said. “Win or lose, we win because people are going to be paying attention.”

Wilson agreed.

“I'm very confident that people are starting to pay attention to the schools,” she said. “There has probably been more awareness and focus on education in just the last month than since the last consolidation issue.”

All those opposed

It is hard to drive through Perry or Morrice without seeing anti-consolidation signs plastered along the roadways.

“The amount of handmade signs is incredible,” Morrice alumnus Jim Hargrove said. “I think there's a spirit behind the school you haven't seen in a long time.”

A lot of signs have focused on the Morrice vote, calling for a “no” vote for consolidation but a “yes” vote for the school's bond.

“We've really been focused on Morrice because if it doesn't pass here, it doesn't pass at all,” Morrice parent Shelly Munro said. “The school is the town's big sell and I don't want to lose that.”

The sentiment of saving Morrice by turning down consolidation and voting in favor of the bond issues got its own Web site, www.yesmorrice.com.

“We just wanted to spread information and facts. We wanted to spread the truth,” Hargrove said. “There wasn't really a good way to do that, besides a Web site.”

Hargrove and his wife Janet have maintained the site for free.

The Web site offers information on consolidation, the election, Morrice schools and notable alumni success stories.

Hargrove said Thursday that there have been more than 52,000 visits and almost 500,000 page views since the site's launch in November.

Signs and Web sites haven't been the only action taken by anti-consolidation members.

“We sold T-shirts which helped raise money for the anti-consolidation effort,” said Morrice bond chairperson Linda Barnes said, adding the group sold 150 shirts.

There have also been mailings to voters and some grassroots efforts were made in the closing weeks.

One group was successful in reaching 100 Morrice voters who didn't vote in September's bond issue, while others focused on getting support from the core members of the community who have more than 50 years of residence.

In Perry, the FACTS About Consolidation Team also set out to spread the word about the issue.

“We've had quite a large campaign,” said Whaley, who orchestrated the team. “I've had tons of people doing a lot of little things.”

The team's first project was to research the issue. That was when it became clear to Whaley that opposing consolidation was the way to go.

Since then, FACTS has been canvassing the Perry area every Saturday, in addition to holding meetings, submitting letters to the editor in newspapers and working with the Anti-Consolidation Team in Morrice.

Whaley said the group also held a town hall meeting Thursday with a panel of experts on the issue, including Rep. Ball and the superintendents from both districts. The Consolidation Team was invited to speak at the meeting, but Whaley said there was a miscommunication and the group wasn't prepared to make a presentation at the last minute.

“My whole point has been to let the voters know both sides to the issue so they can make an informed vote,” Whaley said.

Both groups will continue spreading its message until Tuesday.

“Obviously, we've been asking folks to commit to voting,” Barnes said. “We've got a phone bank and we'll be canvassing up to Monday night.”

Leading into the vote, many anti-consolidation members felt confident about their group's chances in Tuesday's election.

“I'm feeling very good,” Barnes said. “The community has to realize we've got to do something to make a stand.”

“You see a lot of Perry and Morrice people working together, which is a good thing,” Hargrove said. “Everyone is working together for the same thing.”

All those staying

away from the topic

With people in Perry and Morrice passionate about both sides of the consolidation issue, many citizens and businesses took a neutral approach to the topic heading into Tuesday's vote.

Those involved with both sides of the issue could understand people being uncomfortable voicing their opinions on the topic.

“There are a couple of neighbors of mine that either have kids that are out of the school or see all the bad feelings,” Pohlod said. “It's much easier (for them) to stay quiet.”

Whaley said she made an effort to keep businesses out of her group's campaign.

“We made an intentional decision that we would not approach one business,” she said. “A professional business is obligated to stay neutral, not to lose business.”

Morrice Superintendent Bruce Burger said the neutral stance was the approach of his district.

“The school does not take a stance,” Burger said. “Our staff was told not to talk about it. If they were asked by a student, they were told to say they can't talk about that now. School time is school time.”

That's not to say that Morrice teachers didn't have an opinion, though.

“My staff is concerned - we're all concerned,” Burger said. “But I have to say for us as schools, we're in it whether we want to be or not.”

Burger said he's heard rumors of teachers talking about consolidation in their classrooms, but nobody has provided him with concrete examples.

At Perry, Superintendent Jackie Hurd said the district didn't have a hands-off approach.

“What we asked teachers to do is if a student asks a question, answer the question and move on,” Hurd said, adding that Perry stressed teachers shouldn't entertain discussions on the topic or make it a full class dialogue.

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