The article covered more than Nazareth, including Bangor who is also in the process of moving to an Intermediate School. Pleasant Valley has had one since 2000.
What I found most interesting was a recap of how we came to get this intermediate school:
An intermediate school wasn't initially on the radar in Nazareth, Superintendent Victor Lesky said.Presenting this new building as a parent and community initiative, because there was a committee that included parents and community members is a bit of a stretch when you consider the number who voiced their opposition given the cost, location, and concerns with the impact a 4-6 grade building would have on students, parents, teachers, and future budgets.
Building a fourth elementary school was discussed, but that would have required redistricting, which parents tend to oppose. The district then formed a committee of parents, community residents and educators to find a solution.
''This change really came from the parents and the community,'' Lesky said. ''We ruled out a fourth elementary school because we didn't want to redistrict kids.''
Part II will address how the NASD will re-orient with the new Intermediate School and bring focus to the fact that the staff cost was underestimated by 50% when presented last year to the public and the board for a vote.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: I realized after posting I indicated "staff cost" in the last paragraph - it should be re-orientation costs as it is correctly noted in the Exceptions and Board Report posts - sorry about that!]
4 comments:
been told by a member of the committe that the 7-8 bldg was not what the committe voted for---at the time she was just a parent now she works within the district so doubtful she would come forward publicly for fear of retribution but I would like to see documentation of those committee meetings findings
seems the rumor is true--that lesky wanted a "campus", his legacy before retirement
unfortunately his true legacy will be the outrageous tax increases we are all going to be saddled with
additonally for Lesky to continual blame the tax increases on growth is a smoke screen as the true blame lies with poor decision making on the board and administrations part
Lesky can blame this all on growth, and he is right.
The only problem is that he and the rest of the board, for some reason, must have been driving to work every day with their eyes closed and totally missed it.
For years, they missed the boat on how quickly our area was expanding, so now they make excuses because they have a complete inability to plan for the future except when it comes to placing a huge tax burden on the rest of us.
Growth in the past, sure.
But not growth now. In fact, real estate tax revenues have slowed considerably. At the same time we decide to build the $60M 7-8 building. Nice timing.
What's funny, is that they are still carrying forward crazy growth projections.
The tax increases they need to cover the shortfalls in the budget cannot happen without referendums. Multiple, year-after-year referendums as the law currently stands.
to clarify:
yes growth is the reason for increased costs but blaming it for our current state of fiscal affairs is erroneous
for analogy sake it is like blaming food for making you fat--
it is a matter of choices ---
just like growth made our district face certain choices
they chose cheesecake(a 60 M school, pool and all) instead of slices of cheese (an elementary school)---
the analogy ends though because instead of getting fat we are going to face some very lean years in regards to education
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