Keith Patterson: Maxwell can operate its schools without the sharing, Collins cannot. The Collins elementary building will probably be closed if the merger takes place; it is not energy efficient and has wooden stairs. Opinion: Collins can't risk turning down the merger with Maxwell with the expectation of merging with another district. Students would choose colors, etc., for merged school.
After questions were answered Collins mayor Jack Christie urged everyone present to vote in the election; our children's education is the important thing and after the vote, "Lets get back together as a community."
Paul Peterson spoke, saying the board should get a hand for the work they have done, there will be problems with a merger, but they can be overcome, and there were many benefits in the Ballard reorganization.
A student representative said the high school and junior high students favored the merger.
April 22, 1982. Maxwell-Collins. The Maxwell and Collins schools share the services of a librarian - Carla Boekeiman. Both libraries are open during school hours. Carla is sponsoring the IRF - Reading is Fun - program at the schools, giving a couple of books to each elementary student. Her goal is to get the students excited about reading.
April 29, 1982. The Collins and Maxwell boards of education held a joint meeting Tuesday night in Maxwell to discuss future plans for the districts if the voters approve the merger in the May 11 election. They agreed to follow recommendations of the Department of Public Instruction and divide grades as follows: Grades K through 4 would go to school at Maxwell, Grades 5 through 8 at Collins, and Grades 9 through 12 at Maxwell, beginning with the 1983-1984.
Athletic activities would be divided as follows: Football at Maxwell, basketball at Collins, track at Maxwell, wrestling at Maxwell, softball and baseball at Collins, no decision made on volleyball. There was a lengthy discussion on what improvements were needed in the school buildings.
The boards ended up agreeing that improvements would be made to facilities as needed with any money that might be available and one building would not be allowed to run down while others were built up.
The May 4th meeting in Collins will be in the school gym at 7:00 p.m. and the one in Maxwell will be in the gym at 7:30 p.m. Both districts will have open house at their respective schools from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on May 9th.
May 4, 1982. Grandparent's Day at Collins elementary school on Friday, April 30 was a sharing experiences for about 30 grandma's and grandpa's and 25 1st through 6th graders and their teachers. The program opened with students telling why they like their grandparents.
Grandparents then shared stories of one-room schools, walking six miles to school, and their grandparents' stories of watching Indians close to their home. Some grandparents described early horse-drawn school buses and showed antiques, such as pictures, hand corn picker, pot scrapers, bustle worn under dresses.