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3/11/2010
Time to hold district’s feet to the fire
Well, in a kind way! Voters in the Green Bay Area School District are being asked for $16.7 million over and above the levy limit for capital projects. The needs are carefully detailed by the District – as well they should be - $11 million worth of maintenance projects (plus $5.7 million in technology projects).
Racine approved a similar referendum two years ago and expected – well, assumed – the projects advertised would be completed. Lo and behold, the public learned
The referendum passed, but only three of the 44 projects on the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school year lists have been completed. Instead, the referendum money has gone toward other maintenance projects.
Some of the planned projects were replaced by backlogged projects the district didn't have money for before or by emergency projects pushed to the front of the line to ensure student safety, said Unified spokesman Paul Holley….
Additional planned projects were skipped because the work completed instead cost more or took longer than expected. Backlogged projects were also completed instead of those planned, said Frank Jarosz, Unified director of buildings and grounds.
Jarosz said the referendum money does not have to go to exactly what was planned but must be spent on maintenance projects that added value to a school building. The money cannot be used for other things such as salaries.
Hmmm. Bait and switch? Oh my.
I asked Robert Fuhr, the GBASD Executive Director of Facilities and Related Services, if a specific timeline has been set for their $11 million worth of projects.
No, no timeline. When pressed, Fuhr commented that all designated projects would be completed in three years. (Is that the definition of critical project?) I asked if that meant April 6, 2013 or December 31, 2012. Fuhr opted for the April 6, 2013 deadline for all listed projects. If we’re going to get specific, well, then let’s get specific.
Fuhr hadn’t thought about how he and the School Board might report their progress to taxpayers. Yes he said, he would report to the Board. Could it be on the web site? Well yes, said Fuhr willingly, I suppose we could do that.
Green Bay voters, Brown County Taxpayers Association, please take note. Keep your School Board accountable. If the referendum passes, tick off those projects and confirm they get done. If the referendum doesn’t pass (the BCTA is remaining neutral on it), keep the pressure on as to how the district will prioritize all other urgent expenditures to accommodate these critical maintenance needs of the district.
Little stuff? Perhaps. Sometimes it’s just darn grungy, boring work being one of these conscientious citizens that make our communities and our country great.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Dear leader of the "Conscientious Citizen Movement" Would you be so kind someday to grace us with your spending plan for the typical school system? How much should teachers be paid? What benefits should they be afforded? What do we contribute to their retirement? Should we have extracurriculars? What about art and music? How much do we spend on infrastructure? How much technology? Charters? Should we do away with public education entirely? And finally a priortized capital and operational budget. Start with Appleton. Billie
billie (Thu Mar 11 09:56:19 2010)
Again and again people in education are not accountable, and unfortunately you have documented a local case very well.
How can members of the school board sleep at night?
Is it possible that the attention paid to academic success by the Board is equal to the attention paid to referendum monies?
David (Thu Mar 11 14:50:35 2010)
You don't start any business by asking what hourly wages will be paid. That is pure non-sense!
You first state the objective.
Second is the manner to be used to obtain the objective (commonly called a business plan !)
Third you then ascertain the facilities needed to carry out the activities required.
Fourth you determine the standards needed to ensure the accomplishment of all those objectives.
All these are critical issues before you even consider the cash flow and "hourly wages."
You see Billie, the reason for the "Conscientious" movement (as you put it), is that the educational system has completely forgotten the four benchmarks mentioned above. It's "me,me,me" instead of realizing what they are there for, and what is not being accomplished .
A McDonalds cashier would have an extremely short job experience if he/she failed the primary objective, which is in that case to take orders and handle cash. They would be fired if the orders were wrong, or the register is short, or long. What the "Conscientious" person sees, are failing scores (WKCE) , high drop out rates, and a lack of management. What "we" see is that same cashier asking for a raise.. that is ludicrous.
So here Billie, is your simple answer:
The staff will be paid wages commensurate with similar jobs and responsibilities in the community ASSUMING the business is profitable and meets customer requirements.
Any normal person would recognize this as a fundamental measure of pay. Can it be better ? of course, but that only comes with better performance. The customer Billie, is the Taxpayer and resident who sends his/her child to school for an expected education. This education takes place in a facility paid for by the very same taxpayer.
Now, is it too much to ask the mentors of the school to (1) maintain the facility entrusted to them, and (2) to adequately teach their children? I think not.
The problem is the employee, as you appear to express, has little comprehension of the objective, and in some cases, ignores it entirely. There are many fine dedicated teachers, and fortunately I have some of them as friends, and they understand the dilemma, but please service the customers before asking for a raise.
As a follow up, and the " We need more dollars" concept, it would be nice to see school boards look at both the education and success rates that both parochial and charter schools enjoy, and as a matter of public record, at a far lower cost. Sam Walton became a huge success by looking at the competition, I wish we had school districts with the same vision.
Rich Carlstedt (Thu Mar 11 16:48:47 2010)
For crying out loud Billie, get yourself together. The article is about accountability in the public sphere. Almost shouldn't be debatable.
Jo (Thu Mar 11 19:39:45 2010)
The defensive attitude is deafening, pick the tune, "Do it for the Kids", that been a Top Ten, Go for the Gold, made Casey Kasem's all decade list, and play it until Gitmo appears like Kaptain Kangeroos' neighborhood.
This is simply an adult request for appropriate budgeting, an appropriate cost to maintain the public's capital investments, "our" buildings.
And you wonder why the adulys in this argument continue to ask for a budget plan, it's because the children in this situation cannot keep their hands out of the never empty cookie jar. Well, the Keebler Kids ain't making their rounds this year.
God Lord, this is the most puerile of arguments from those who feel put upon, well the taxpayer might be feeling a bit put upon. The good Governor and Democratic Legislature for got to add some cookies this time, go ask them why!
Richard Parins (Thu Mar 11 21:31:36 2010)
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