cross-posted
there is actually no one who will read this, but it bothers me deeply enough that i have to say something, even if it is in a vacuum.
the results of the election this year were more decided than last year. the bad blood and hatfield/mccoy mentality of the local populations are getting even stronger and more pronounced. as residents of our local school district, we pay school taxes. in exchange, we get textbooks and bussing. special services are a fight, expect in the most extreme cases where it obviously cannot be denied. as taxpayers, we must pay a fee for use of school board properties, even if the facility would be open anyway, or so i hear. public school enrollment is going down and yet, there still is not enough money to make capital improvements and much needed repairs on the schools still open. our district stands out as one of the worst performing districts in the county. AND THEY STILL ASK US TO APPROVE A BUDGET OF MORE THAN $90 MILLION!
they closed a school because there were not enough students, and then turned around and sold the property for more than $27 million. maybe they could ear-mark some of that for repairs to the schools still open that are so desperately in need of some attention? nope. instead, they proposed 2 different budgets--the main budget, as well as a second budget specifically for the repairs.
and so, in good conscience, i voted no to the budgets, and voted to bring all new people into the school board. the hard-core contraries will call this more divisive-ness, but that's not it. the school board runs amok. its not held accountalbe in any serious manner. if they want to bring this community together, even if some send to private schools, then show us that the money is not being wasted. if they are spending $24,000+ a student, then why are they failing so miserably? its a nasty, vicious state of affairs.
2 comments:
Before we moved here, 57% voted yes on a proposal by the school district (it needed 60% or 66.6% to pass) for $245 million. They wanted to rebuild/renovate four elementary schools and a high school, and build a performing arts center and a science-type center. All the while, they are seeing a decrease in enrollment and a state-mandated teacher salary increase that isn't covered by increased funding from the state meaning they'll need to get rid of teachers and librarians and janitors to cover the new costs. And now they're spending large sums of money to poll 403 people about how they voted. Sometimes it's hard to understand what goes through these people's minds or how they justify stuff that makes no sense to the rest of us.
As with everything, it's a communications issue... either it's a good idea and they're not effectively communicating that, or it's a bad idea because they've failed to connect with the populace to figure out what the right idea is.
the problem here is that community is changing daily, and the school board hasn't. they requested a budget not reflective of the enrollment and current state of the district. instead of working with the community, they tried to alienate and strong arm the voters.
and now we have a chance to change things. i hope it works.
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