Voters rejected a bond for repairs to Houston School District. What’s next?

HOUSTON, Miss. (WCBI) – A proposed $9.25 million bond issue for repairs to the Houston School District failed to pass in Tuesday’s election.

On Thursday, Superintendent Tony Cook spoke to WCBI about those results and the next step.

Cook said he is disappointed with the outcome.

“We put in a lot of work,” said Cook. “But my job as superintendent is to identify problems. Make the public aware of problems. Have a plan to correct it and as district responsibility, it is their job to go out and vote and the people have spoken.”

Cook said that money would have helped repair issues at the schools.

Houston Middle School Principal William Cook pointed out issues around the school.

“The roof is leaking bad,” said Cook. “We got 23 leaks in this building alone overall. And we keep patching as best we can but more leaks pop up and the only way to fix them all is by the roofers completely fixing the roof.”

Numerous buckets were also placed around the school to catch water leaking from the ceiling.

Principal Cook said he wished the voters had said yes.

“Disappointed. We have a lot of needs that we need to be addressed, and you know these are all things that had to be done and we have to figure out a way to keep going and get those fixed. But either way, we’re still going to have school and still educate our kids as best as we can,” said Cook.

Now, with no additional money to address these issues, what’s next?

“We will continue to patch and do the best we can,” said superintendent Cook. “I got a plan to try and get a new roof on the middle school which is the highest priority right now that’s where we have multiple leaks and multiple issues. So that’s our highest priority and we are moving forward with that plan to try and get that corrected.”

Superintendent Cook said despite Tuesday’s results, the school board will continue to try and find ways to repair these issues.