School decision feels like blackmail (11/10/07)

To the editor:

It feels like blackmail. Bryan Alexander said, "I don't think it would be prudent to spend $98,000 out of our budget and not go ahead and build the building." He was referring to building an auxiliary gym for the high school.

Mr. Alexander is exactly right. There really is no need to discuss it further. They have made up their minds. Superintendent Long's statement was interesting. We should move on with the project, "then you'll know what the price of the building is." That sounds as though it doesn't matter what the cost will be, we are going to have a new gym.

Only a tax-supported program could go about things that way. Private industry finds out the cost and then decides whether or not to proceed.

Mr. Ireland asked the question I have. Why not use the armory for an auxiliary gym? The only thing reported about the armory in an earlier article was that the board is trying to figure out a use for it. If Mr. Ireland's question was answered, it wasn't reported in the paper.

I am part of the generation that Frank Vormohr referred to. You need us tot help keep a lid on spending. We have been paying taxes for many, many years, and will continue to pay. The only way we can tell if the school corporation's money is well-spent is how well our students do on their academic tests.

Please re-think this decision. I know it has been in the works for several years, but that was before the armory became available. Have you checked the engineering design cost of re-configuring the armory. It would be nice to have something to compare with the $98,000.

Thank you for your consideration.

Lola Joy

Portland

Blind-sided

To the editor:

Opening last night's (Oct. 30) paper was like being blind-sided by a truck. The headline reads "Scaled-down gym project will proceed." It was my belief that the "gym project" had been put on hold.

Apparently the school board didn't listen well the last time this was brought up. I understand that this hold meant at least a year, perhaps more. Certainly not a month, or perhaps two. They waited just long enough to find out how our taxes were going to be assessed, not how our relief was going to be met.

The way the school board approaches things, you would think we had a county of 100,000-plus population, not just 21,000-plus. When they want to spend money, do they think about how much it will cost each home owner in taxes? It could be quite substantial. Most people try to work to get out of debt; our school board should look at their obligation the same way.

It seems that most other countries put their faith in education, not sports. Sports in other countries are not necessarily sponsored by the schools, but by sports clubs that athletes have to join well after school hours.

Why then do we feel that we must spent all of our resources for another building just to play in? With 7 out of 10 schools in our county below average, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to think about all our young people's education instead of a relatively few athletes?

Forget the idea of the new gym. Utilize the building that has been given to us by the state. There is a small gym in it. Use it! Then look into adding on to make it larger. That seems to me to be a lot more economical than to build a brand-new building.

We already had a larger, new and improved swimming pool put in, much to the chagrin of many, that we are paying for.

This is something we have that the public can't even use during off-hours. Why?

Stop the madness now, or let's get the campaign started to elect all but one new school board members that will listen to those that have put them there. It doesn't matter whether they are Democrat or Republican. As long as they listen.

J.M. Landon

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