Fact checking the WISD bond: The indoor multi-purpose facility

Photo courtesy Waxahachie ISD.

Waxahachie ISD Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Glenn.

Waxahachie Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Glenn issued a misleading statement Monday regarding rumors surrounding the indoor multi-purpose facility included in the proposed $125 million WISD bond package.

"As we move into election season inaccurate rumors regarding the WISD bond continue to mount. Perhaps the biggest one is the idea that WISD is planning to spend $20 million on an indoor athletic practice facility," Dr. Glenn stated.

"That is completely false," he continued.

Dr. Glenn went on to state the building will cost approximately $120 per square foot and that a 10,000 square foot facility would cost $1.2 million.

"The multipurpose building will cost approximately $120.00 per square foot, so a 10,000 square foot facility would be $1.2 million," he wrote.

This is the same statement provided on the proposed bond website.

The statements leave property owners and voters the impression that the indoor facility will be 10,000 square feet.

However, requests for more information reveal that Dr. Glenn's statement is a generalized example rather than a statement of fact of what the size of the facility will be.

Ellis County Citizen inquired via a private message to the official Waxahachie ISD website if the proposed multi-purpose indoor facility will be 10,000 square feet or if the statements are just an example of how much that size of a facility would cost.

"It is an estimate. WISD will not invest in final designs for the proposed new facility unless a bond election passes," the response stated.

Based on the response, property owners and voters have no clue what size of an indoor facility is being considered, how much the facility is estimated to cost or how much specific aspects of the project will cost aside from high-level overviews.

The information being distributed is generalized information for a project that someone somehow came up with a $125 million price tag.