Earlier I posted on the spending based on the reports in the newspaper (read the post here), and I questioned why certain elements such as phone, interactive white boards, and internet infrastructure weren't included in the new MS building project.
In the agenda, it turns out the whiteboards had previously been approved on Sept. 14, 2008 at a cost of $221,302.21, but now we are going to pay 19% more from the same company ($263,436).
Not sure if we missed some rooms or upgraded the equipment, but a good example of how project costs always go up.
7 comments:
i looked online and white boards cost approx 1,500 dollars (for the most expensive , which of course is what we have to get).. anyway, we have 188 classrooms going into this new school? hmmmm.. someone can set me straight on this now as to why there is such a massive difference.. 267,000 for freakin boards ?
i apologize.. there "interactive".. those cost $2,100 on average.. still that comes out to over 125 classroooms? that number seems really high to me..
thats just for the board, theres installation, auxillary equipment to support and network, etc, i suppose..... i am not one to want to spend more money, but it would cost twice as much later to install these.
How many teachers will use them consistently to make the cost worthwhile? Are the teachers qualified? Do they care?
What is the lifespan of the white boards? Computers only last 5 or 6 years before they need upgrades. What happens in 2 or 3 years when there is new technology, new software?
The whiteboards are going to be with 7th and 8th grade students, and all their raging hormones. What of the nicks, dings, and general vandalism?
WHO IS GOING TO SAY NO to this runaway overspending? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE new run for school board? It takes a majority of 5 board members with guts to stand up to administration and other board members, but only the same old spendaholics put in paperwork to run again.
One or two guys alone are swimming upstream with no help from the community, or anyone. And yet everyone keeps complaining.
Tess..
The problem is simple. run for the school board now and you are the villain for raising the school taxes through the roof in the years to come..
People wont realize that it has to be this way because of the reckless spending of the former members. Thats the main sticking point right now.. Would you want to inherit this mess ?.. I wouldnt.. Its sad when i had some friends over the other night and they basically laughed for an hour when i told them about our wonderful school district and what we wasted money on !! At least others are getting laughs out of this..
I'm sorry, Ryan. That answer doesn't cut it. I understand it and I appreciate your honesty in writing it. It probably is the reason why no one else ran. But it still doesn't cut it.
It's clear Nazareth is filled with residents who only want to whine and complain then cower behind some pathetic excuse when it's time to step forward and do something.
Even if they didn't run, if every board meeting were filled with taxpayers shouting "ENOUGH!" then maybe something would happen. But people don't even want to do that.
Real men step forward and fight for what is right. Too bad there are so very few of them around.
The problem is someone "stepping up" and running, especially if they were not born an raised here, is they have very little chance of winning.
One only has to look at the lineage of those in power, both in the schools and in our local governments to see this. Yes, there are a couple exceptions, but very few.
As for the cost of the white boards, besides the base costs, there are a lot of other factors. Supporting software and hardware, network infrastructure to support them, and the industry standard 18% maintenance fee (which is typically paid annually). Then add in the services cost for the installation and configuration, then the dollar value starts to go up.
The real questions that should be asked is do these white boards improve education? Is there a cost benefit or are they just a cool toy? I work in high tech, and have yet to see one used outside of schools, so the argument that it is helping them for when they get out of school doesn't wash.
What we really need is some common sense in our leadership that figures out that in a down economy, you tighten your belt and do without.
Then again, in a down economy, a smart person would also know that you can bargain with hardware and software vendors and get a better deal since they are selling less.
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