While new school construction bond elections for rural school districts can be difficult to pass, success is possible. This paper presents one superintendent's effective campaign to build a $4.2 million elementary school within a rural community. It reveals the need to continually reinforce the message of committing to educational quality combined…

Following two-failed school bond issues in 1995 and 1998, one mid-sized rural school district organized an effort that led to two successful school bond elections in 2001 and 2003. The school district's strategic plan mirrored many of the recommendations for successful bond referendums published in School Bond Success: A Strategy for Building…

In Waitsburg, Washington, the community was actively involved in a rural school facilities improvement project. The district serves approximately 410 students in three buildings on a single campus. Spurred by growing enrollment and aging facilities, the project included the complete renovation and restoration of a historic school building to serve…

The passage of a bond issue in support of school building construction or renovation can be one of the most difficult activities for a rural school district. The process of getting a bond passed requires a delicate mix of public relations, community education, and consensus building. In this chapter, a superintendent in a rural district describes…

Reversing two decades of school-community turmoil, Valley View--a small, rural community in northeastern Vermont--approved a bond issue for school construction. This case study uses organizational and systems theory to examine structural, political, symbolic, and human resource influences on changing community attitudes. Contains 19 references.…