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by Linda Moore
Heads Up! Be afraid. Be very afraid. I have just read an article about city school growth that highly suggests that we need to build another school to take care of some crowding on the north end of Cleveland. Hello? How many years have we been building a new Mayfield? How many years did we hunt for property? How many more years is it going to take for the actual Mayfield to be operational? Isn't that new Mayfield supposed to have a lot of extra space in it? Wait a minute, just wait one minute. I would almost wager that since the Cleveland Board of Education is going to back to the tax payers and demand more money for the new Mayfield school is the reason that there is a suggestion of yet another new school due to over crowding? AH HA!!!
I know this song and dance. The board of education is going to submit to the tax payers that they have to have even more money, (it's always about the money and that money is always tax payer dollars), and they are going to justify the over sized Mayfield by pointing out that Yates and Ross are nigh onto capacity level. The capacity levels at the other schools will be the excuse to justify an imagined need for millions more for the new Mayfield. City School Board, the answer is NO. You may not have any more tax money for this school. You have done this time and time again over Mayfield and we are sick to death of it. Nothing rakes across my nerves more than the knowledge that the county board of education can build a school that will hold at least 200 more students for 2/3 of the cost than what the city builds a school at. Actually, the building has yet to be seen. We see you spending millions upon millions but we do not see a school.
In the mean time, on the south side of the city, we were able to put two entire schools into one school building. We put the Arnold students in Blythe Bower for nigh on two months. We've got plenty of room for our Hispanic growth. And of course by next year the city school board is going to be needing money to institute dual languages. I'm sure of it. And there is nothing that the tax payer's can do about this because it is a Federal Law.
In the mean time let's touch on Geothermal heating and this big fat, "interest free", loan that the city school board just got in the amount of $500.000.00. This loan is specifically for geothermal heating and cooling systems for Arnold and Cleveland Middle Schools. It is to be paid back in approximately seven years. Let's do a little simple math. Seven years equals 84 months. 84 months divided by $500,000.00 equals $5952.00. Or right around a payment of $6000.00 per month.
So the city school board is telling me, you and everyone else that we are going to save $6000.00 per month, in utilities, for one grammar and one middle school. I don't believe it. I absolutely don't believe it. I don't even believe that the utility bills for those schools might equal that'; much less that be the savings amount per month. I think you're blowing smoke city school board. And I think you're wasting tax payers money. I want to see the past twelve months in utility bills for Arnold and Cleveland Middle. Your press releases are real pretty. They read great. But once one does some simple ciphering then your press releases reek of untruths and wasted tax dollars.
Our city school board is a prime example of why America is in so much debt. They waste money on froofies and special interests. School boards are more adept than many government organizations at wasting money because they can always use their never ending mantra and war cry of, "But it's for the children; god save our children." Here's a suggestion, teach our children, invest the money in teaching instead of special building projects.
Happy New Years Folks!!! Your new year will begin anew with another volley of demands for your hard earned dollars. Consider this request, let us merge the school systems and eliminate a vast amount of administrative paid positions that are sucking us all dry.
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