More than 1,000 petition for northern high school site

COLUMBIA —More than 1,000 people have signed a petition urging Columbia Public Schools to choose a site in northern Columbia for the new high school.

Marion Dickerson, grandparent and signature collector, will speak at Tuesday’s high school site evaluation committee meeting and bring copies of the signed petition.

Two hundred forty-four signatures were collected online, and the rest were obtained in person. George Lindahl, neighbor to the Vemer property in southeast Columbia, signed the online petition with the following comment:

“If you are going to build a school on the Vemer land, it should be a grade school, and it should be built five or six years from now as the city grows.”

Lindahl said that at this time, there is not enough need to put the new high school in southeast Columbia.

The petition cites population, infrastructure cost, safety and the environment as reasons for a northern site. It states, “There are several feeder schools in the northern part of the school district and a large, rapidly growing population, but there is no high school there.”

About 15 concerned citizens began the petition after an online discussion, Dickerson said. They have been collecting signatures for a couple of months.

“They’re all ages, all races, all locations in the community,” said Dickerson of those who have signed the petition. John McCormick, a member of the evaluation committee, was involved with the petition, Dickerson said.

The evaluation committee meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at West Junior High School, 401 Clinkscales Road.

At the end of the meeting, the public will be allowed up to five minutes per person to comment.