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I am a little unclear here with the school board and this gift from heaven of $50 Million. To receive the ?“GIFT?” the voters must approve a maintenance levy for 23 years. This levy in May is not suppose to raise our taxes but then they go into what their plan to spend money over the next who knows how many years.
They plan to replace ALL of the HVAC systems in every building. This is why I get suspicious when I read these plans. Are we being told and better yet expected to believe that every HVAC system in the district is on its last leg and will fail within a short time? How old is North and LakeView? Are they outdated and new systems will be more energy efficient? Before we get on the green band wagon, how much must we invest first to enjoy the savings in energy bills later?
Clearly roofs and school lockers can show that they need replaced.
Why are ALL of the windows being replaced at Central? Is this just crumbs being tossed to those parents and tax payers?
Finally where is the money coming from for these improvements? IS this money coming from this maintenance levy or from the $50 Million the state has earmarked for PLSD for new buildings? If the current school board is blowing all of this building money now before and they don't know what the future growth will be seems like a farmer eating his seed corn.
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You want answers?
Maybe you should go to a school board meeting and pose these questions.
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Dumb advice
First going to a school board meeting and asking any kind of question is dumb advice unless you are trying to make a political statement. If the question is the least bit threatening members likes Wes will become combative.
The fact is we hear this advice all the time and these meetings are not the best way to get an answer or to clarify something that you might have read in the newspaper. I think right now the City of Pickerington is handling public questions better than any of the local governments and that has been an improvement over the pre 2003 years. The school district still holds information close to the vest and I have heard they even challenged the Dispatch for document requests.
Over the years I quit going to board meetings because there is very little information coming from them or there is a fight going on between the board members. Asking information directly from the school administration is useless. The superintendent will either BS you or ignore you. On a rare occasions and if you can talk with her at a meeting or some other public event with witnesses she will talk. Don?’t expect accurate answers during these ?“talks.?” I think the most effective way to get information from the schools is a request through a board member. Many times it takes time but the information eventually gets back to you.
The fact is that the OSFC and our school district are blowing money left and right all in the name of quality schools. They tend to cover up that spending with a lack of detail and a lack of information to the public. My bone to pick here is that this levy is suppose to be used to maintain our district buildings. However the half million per year they will get from this levy is not adequate to maintain the district buildings. Money we all thought was going to be used to build the next required academic buildings in the district now will be used to repair and replace things on existing buildings. Growth will return one day. This school district and its board have struggled over the years in meeting the requirements associated with growth. The master plan covers a ten year span. The current plan began in 2006. That leave us with 7 years to go.
Years ago I requested a working budget from the City of Pickerington and they told me that it would cost me $349.00. I said no thanks. Today they post that budget online. The PLSD web site has improved over the years. However it is still missing detailed financial reports like the budget. It is strange that 85% of the school budget goes to salaries and they are regularly published in the board meeting minutes. However you will find very little information about the other 15% of the budget. They have real problems in the school district with their facilities yet they are not allowed to spend this $50 million on outside projects. More on that later.
I know the members of the school board read this site as well as others. I would advise our taxpayers to asked why all of this R/R maintenance must be done on all of these schools NOW?
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Some Info
The money the PLSD has qualified for under the OSFC is from the tobacco settlement. - There is a list of schools in line behind Pickerington so if we don't take this as a school district it will go to the next district that qualifies & is able to meet the criteria. It's no skin off the state's nose & then we can fund/repair items locally as needed.
One of the mechanisms in which to meet the OSFC's requirements is for the school district to have a ten year Master Plan in place. This is where the district along with architects & other OSFC staff review existing buildings & list things that will need replaced over the next ten years. Once approved the buildings are put in a schedule of first to last for repairs & renovations are started.
I believe that if it was thought that Central's windows for example or HVAC systems would fail over the next ten years then they qualified for this program. I don't think anything will start quickly if it passes in May - I've heard probably next summer with some minor exceptions - Central's roof will be finished...so it may still be a couple of years before big renovations are realized.
Some of this info I did get a Board Meetings, some from the www.voteforpickkids.org website, some from local papers, some from the district website where the Master Plan was posted - not sure if it's still there or not. Haven't looked at it recently.
By Pickerington Parent
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