Voters will decide on Tuesday whether to approve two referendum questions that would fund a new high school and boost the School City of Hammond's operating budget.
The district is seeking a $110.6 million capital projects referendum over 20 years in a bid to replace Hammond High School and fund other construction projects at nearly all its other schools.
If approved, the referendum would fund the construction of a 417,000-square-foot building on Hammond High's west side. Its students would attend the current building while the replacement was under construction.
Hammond High eventually would be demolished. Students from Hammond High and Eggers Middle School would attend the new building. A baseball field and parking lot would be built on the high school's current footprint, according to plans.
Buildings and Grounds Director James Burggraf told the school board earlier this year that Hammond High School needed extensive repairs to address safety and code compliance issues.
Those included dead-end corridors, the lack of a building-wide fire sprinkler system, outdated fire system, non-disability compliance, outdated electrical systems, leaking roof, air quality issues and aging building materials likely containing lead paint, mercury and asbestos. The school's pool could not be maintained and closed about five years ago, he said.
The Hammond district also plans to close Columbia and Lafayette elementary schools, under the plan.
The district also is seeking a separate $70 million operating referendum that would pay for teachers, staff and educational programs.
Board member Cindy Murphy said multiple high school programs also could face cuts or closure including Morton's Hammond Academy for the Performing Arts, Gavit's Project Lead the Way (STEM programs), junior ROTC at Hammond High, advanced manufacturing at Clark and the Hammond Area Career Center University — a four-year high school program for Hammond students that allows some to earn associate's degrees before graduation.
"There's going to be some very heated discussions ... as we are talking about what we have to cut," Murphy said. "No one is going to be very happy. We want to keep it all, but we know we can't."
If that referendum question fails, the district has said up to 60 teachers, six administrators, its regular transportation department, 20 custodians, and 15 support staff could face layoffs. It would also reduce spending on technology. One high school could also face closure.
Hammond is Northwest Indiana's largest school district with an enrollment of about 13,100 students. It has 14 elementary schools, two middle schools and four high schools. Two of the high schools, Clark and Gavit, house grades six through 12.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said he supported the effort. The City Council voted against taking a position on either referendum question.
Hammond schools are closed on Tuesday for the vote.
Weeks before the referendum, sporadic signs for and against it were placed in yards across the city. A half-dozen "NO" signs were clustered on Williams Street across from the school administration building.
Hammond resident Mary Ellen Slazyk, who unsuccessfully ran for the school board last year, said she was concerned about the cost of both referendum questions and expressed reservations that finalized plans for other capital projects aside from the new high school have not yet been publicly presented.
"I think that is way, way too much," she said. "To be good, informed voters, they need to know what is going on."