Residents who favor a $40 million bond issue proposed by Proviso Township High School District 209 to create a magnet school filed an objection Friday saying opponents’ petitions calling for a referendum on the plan have too few signatures.
Ronald Anderson of Bellwood and Jonni D. Murakami of Maywood filed the objection. Their counsel is Michael E. Lavelle, an attorney who specializes in elections and who prepared the objection.
Anderson, a truck driver taking college courses in computer programming, said he favors the school board’s plan to use most of the $40 million to buy an office building in Forest Park and convert it to a school for freshmen and upper-grade students concentrating in math and science.
“I have a 13-year-old child in 8th grade who will attend Proviso West next year and I want him to go to an Ivy League college,” Anderson said.
He said the new school would give his son the educational advantage to succeed after high school.
Opponents of the bond issue say there’s nothing the district can do in a third building that can’t be done in its two existing schools, Proviso East in Maywood and Proviso West in Hillside. They also say interest on a 20-year bond would cost too much and the district’s residents should get to vote on the plan March 16.
Opponents said they expected the filing Friday.
“They’re going to do everything in their power to deny the people the opportunity to vote,” said Charles Flowers of Maywood.
Bond issue opponents filed petitions Monday with what they said are signatures of 7,508 registered voters who live in the district, or about 900 more than the 6,600 required to get the matter on the ballot.
The objection filed Friday says many of the signers aren’t registered to vote or do not live in District 209. It also says people not registered in the district circulated some petitions.
