TDHS School Bond Votes Are In; "We're Not Giving Up" Says PAC
Vote Yes TDHS Supporters awaiting election results at Sunshine Mill Winery on November 7, 2023. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
The Dalles, Ore., November 7, 2023 – The initial results are in for the November 7, 2023 Wasco County election. As it currently stands it appears that the Vote Yes TDHS, North Wasco County School District 21 School Bond to build a new high school has failed.
As of 8:15 p.m. unofficial results show 47.21% yes votes and 52.79% no votes on building a new high school.
A screenshot of the Wasco County Elections page.
It was very close. There was only a 5.58% difference between the yes and no votes and voter turnout was 43.03%.
“It’s a little bit of a negative, a little bit of hope. We’ll get ‘em next time,” said Calvin Evans, a student at TDHS who has been active in the school bond campaign.
“Economically the American dream is built on progress. Progress is built on education. A high school is a tool we use to teach,” said Phil Brady, Wasco County Commissioner.
Vote Yes TDHS political action committee said that although they appear to have lost the election they were not giving up. They also expressed gratitude to everyone who came out to support students, teachers, and schools.
Robin Denning, Vote Yes TDHS Pac President addressing supporters at Sunshine Mill Winery. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
“The PAC is going nowhere and we will try again to get safer and more accessible schools. We have done great work telling everyone about this issue within truth and within integrity and people know we have an issue to address, that is still movement towards safer schools, regardless of outcome the message is clear, really clear, and we can be really proud of ourselves for making that message as loud as possible,” said Robin Denning, PAC President in her address to the group of PAC members, volunteers, D21 staff, and Vote Yes TDHS supporters at Sunshine Mill Winery on Tuesday.
The Vote Yes TDHS Political Action Committee. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
“First of all we just want to say thank you for everyone’s work. If you were part of the PAC, if you canvased, if you wrote note cards, thank you. If you did anything for this thank you,” said Jose Aparicio, NWASCO D21 Board Chair “Thank you so much for being a supporter of D21. This isn’t official. We still got to get all the ballots that were post-marked today. Not all hope is lost.”
Stephanie Bowen, Jose Aparicio, and Carolyn Bernal. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
Some postmarked votes may still need to be counted. Elections will be updated with postmarked ballots on November 13. The last day to certify the election results will be December 4th.
In the meantime D21 staff reiterated that it would continue to do the best it can with the facilities that it has.
“There’s still needs that are not going away. We’re very cognizant of that, we’re going to continue to address those needs,” said Aparicio.
“My passion and my heart is with our students. I want them to have the best quality education we can provide them every single day. We have amazing teachers, we have amazing staff working hard every single day. And my hope and my goal is that we can build state-of-the-art facilities that I think our children and this community deserves so we’re not giving up, we’re just going back to the drawing board,” said Dr. Carolyn Bernal, D21 Superintendent.
