Residents of the South Hamilton School District will probably be voting on a bond issue later this fall. Monday evening the board of directors received a recommendation from the building space advisory committee, a group of parents, staff and teachers, who have been meeting regularly since spring to study space concerns in the school buildings.

That recommendation, as presented to the board, would allow South Hamilton fifth and sixth graders to be placed again in an elementary setting. Currently all of the districts students in grades 5-12 attend classes in one building that was built as a high school for grades 10-12.

The committee's findings advise a major addition to the existing elementary building with an additional minor addition to the middle school-high school building. Both buildings are in Jewell.

According to Supt. Mike Rogers, also on Monday evening the board contracted with the Des Moines legal firm Ahlers, Cooney and Dorweiler, which will serve as the bonding attorney. The next step is for the attorneys to draw up a petition calling for the bond issue, which will require signatures of eligible voters in the district before the date for the bond issue can be set.

The number of signatures required on the petition is 25 percent of those who voted in the last school election earlier this month. There were approximately 150 who cast ballots in that election. The bond issue itself must pass by a 60 percent margin.

Also before the bond issue comes up for a vote, informational meetings will be held in each of the four communitites in the South Hamilton School District.

The board, which Rogers says is all go on this, will set a date for the bond issue vote after the petition is received from the public. The date being considered is December 9, 1997. They will be working closely with the bonding attorney as they proceed with the bond issue process.