At the December 12th meeting of the school board's FTT committee, we heard the UW Applied Population Lab's analysis of growth projections. It all lead into what we've been expecting: the district believes it will very soon need more elementary school space. And district administration has a one-track mind: BUILD. That means (in their minds) another Horizon/Creekside palace. Of course, Phil Frei said that "there have been discussions" regarding other options. When questioned, however, we learned that said "discussions" had been held in private and (we assume) school board members were not present. Wrong song, bucko! These discussions MUST be held in public. Thankfully, FTT committee chair John Welke stepped up and made it abundantly clear that the SCHOOL BOARD had not made ANY decisions regarding a new school. He also emphatically stated that any such plans would go through the FTT. So just hold the phone, Tyrone!
The STAR quoted resident Rick Mealy as asking whether the district had considered increasing class sizes at least as an interim measure. For the record (ahem!), Mr. Mealy prefaced his remarks by saying that "while he was not advocating for such, measures such as increasing class sizes MUST be fully vetted by the district/board". Mr. Mealy was simply demanding full disclosure of what options had been considered and why those that were rejected had been rejected. That is only right and just. There are numerous options to building a new palace.
One resident who caught wind of the FTT meeting had the following to say:
It’s not books, copy paper, teachers, and desks that cost big money, they grow incrementally with each new student, who brings a pot of state aid and perhaps a new house and it’s taxes with him. It’s what I would call periphery that kills the budget. If you build another building you have all sorts of stuff that you don’t duplicate when you just add a class or two.
- Principal
- Secretary
- Lady to sit by door
- Librarian and library
- Custodians
- Grass to mow
- Sidewalks to shovel
- Guidance Counselor
- Psychologist
- Social Worker
- Case Manager
- Cook
- Aides (may increase incrementally)
- PA System
- Copier
- Gym and equipment
- Playground equipment
- Oh, yeah, a piece of land and a building
- Etc.
This is exactly why the district needs to look at options. How many more teachers could we pay if we didn’t have to pay for all of this?
Gas for heating
Electricity
Water/Sewer
Creekside cost 14.5 MILLION dollars. and that was 3 years ago. A similar building would cost upwards of $16-17M now. And then we need land, as our resident points out.
We need to be more creative in this school district, folks. Adding bricks, mortar, and bodies is not necessarily the answer.
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