Some might answer: "Hot Wings".
Others might suggest, "Fried Cheese Curds" or "Cheese Sticks."
We're certain that a few might quietly chuckle and suggest some type of dip.
And we have to admit that a case could easily be made for that old staple of our youth from a Chinese restaurant --the "Poo Poo Platter".
But there's something even more fitting. We've got it.
The SPASD is like...
a "Bloomin' Onion"!
A "Bloomin Onion", you ask?
Yep. Because the more you dig at it, the more layers there seem to be. And the deeper you get towards the core, the greater the impact on your social graces--if you catch our drift.
The Computer Purchase Example
To illustrate the many layers of the district that one must peel to get at the "core", look no further than the recent announcement regarding computer purchases for the new High School (HS) and Upper Middle School (UMS). It's unfortunate that the Sun Prairie Star failed to cover ANY of this discussion from last Monday's school board meeting, because the more you know, the more you get ticked off.
The District initially announced plans to purchase 1375 computers. No...that's not a typo. At about $500 each, that amounts to a sizable chunk of referendum dollars. So you ask a few questions. How many for the new high school: 1100. 275 for the UMS. Whoa! you plan on opening the doors with 1400 kids and you want to buy 1100 computers????!!!
You ask a few more questions...like how many computers are at the existing HS (which will become the UMS). The answer is quite foggy...something along the lines of the fact that they don't really know exactly which computers are where. They have tag numbers, and when they have to be replaced, a technician just kind of hunts through the school till they find the computer? You mean a $68M "business" cannot track copmputers better than that? Wouldn't that facilitate quiet "movement" of computers from place to another? What about those purchased with referendum dollars? WTF?!
And then you get some information from a district insider and find that they want to have 779 computers in the UMS--for about 900-950 kids. And then they want to have 884 computers in the new HS--for 1400 kids. Do a little math, folks. Of course THIS information hasn't been shared with the community--or even the FTT.
Then they come out and REVISE the proposed purchase and want to buy MORE than 1100 computers for the new HS. What?! And then, you read a little further and see that....
" We estimate that 120 computers will be needed for adding classrooms in the next five years. We propose using these computers to create two additional computer labs at both the 8/9 school and the new high school. As computers are needed in the classrooms, they would be transferred from the computer labs."
WHAT!? You want to buy PCs for FIVE years in advance, when you KNOW district policy is to replace PCs every 5 years? Huh?
Anyone else smellin' what we're smellin'? It's kind of foul, innit?
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