Let’s do our part and be informed on referendum

There was an OK crowd — around 100 or so people — in attendance last Tuesday when New Hampton Superintendent Jay Jurrens began the second of four informational meetings on the upcoming $19.415 million bond referendum voters will decide on Feb. 7.Put another way, there were plenty of good seats still available when the 75-minute meeting began, and trust us, it wasn’t a late-arriving crowd.So far, at least, attendance at the meetings has been lukewarm and we might be overstating the case, but there’s still time for residents to learn the whats, whys and hows that are a part of referendum, which if successful, will lead to the construction of a new middle school, competition gym and vocational agriculture and industrial technology center.Meetings are scheduled on the next two Thursdays, with tours of the current middle school beginning at 6 p.m. and presentations beginning one-half hour later.We’re asking all of you to take the time to attend these meetings to at least understand the facility issues the school district is facing.This is an important vote for both our school district and the communities that make it up. At the very least, we should be willing to give up a couple of hours to get the facts about the proposal and to hear what our neighbors and friends think about the proposal.Two days after last week’s informational meeting, the high school gym was packed for a wrestling triangular. We’d like to see the auditorium just as packed the next two weeks. Because our facilities should be just as important as our wrestling team, right?