Re: School Board Meeting, Part 2

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: : : : : : : : : : Think about this. Even if we would get the "super school", and they would be able to offer more advanced classes and let kids succeed even more at their education, have more chances at scholarships, ect, do you really think they are going to come back here after their college educations are finished? No, they are going to go where the job markets are good, and that certainly isn't here. Kids should get every opportunity possible, but this is just a fact. : : : : : : : : : I do not think this is necessarily relevant, because we are looking to better the education for our children. If they want to leave, then they should have that option. There is nothing here. : : : : : : : : : But, I also think you are correct when you tie the consolidation in with the economic developement of this area. Where in the world have you ever heard that if you build a super high school that the companies will come flocking to the area? Look throughout Western PA. They will say anything to sell this flawed bag of goods. : : : : : : : : : The economic development of this area and other areas throughout the state and country are much, much bigger issues than this school district. : : : : : : : : Your comments may be accurate but places may change. If you give high school students a place they can be proud of, there may be more that stick around and create local business. What they see now is a couple of dead towns with ancient schools falling down around them. A new facility may instill a sense of pride in the overall community and would not mind returning to the area to work and live. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : If you have quality employment opportunities in the area, they will come. Building a new school does not bring employers. That is not a myth. It is the truth. All you have to do is look around the region. Even the once high growth areas with new schools are losing employers and their enrollments are dropping. : : : : : : : I am honest in saying that I am open for anybody to give me an example of a school that was built and it attracted employers. I would learn something, seriously. I could be totally wrong, but I would just like to see an example of this. : : : : : : : Off the subject a little bit, we have a brand new IUP facility and a new Penn State facility up in North Pointe, and that place still cannot attract employers. : : : : : : First off, Nobosy is asking for a "Super School". With a graduating class of maybe 300, a "Super School is not needed. : : : : : : Second, why don't businesses move into Armstrong county? Because our taxes are 50% to 100% higher than our surrounding communities and why? Because we have to keep our pathetic school building operable. If we had one high school for the district like Freeport, Indiana, and Kiski Area, we might even be able to lower our taxes and businesses may be able to move in and keep their heads above water. Been to Sarver lately? It's looking like Cranberry did 10 years ago. Look where Cranberry is now! Why should be sit back and be fine with what we have while the world around us passes us by. Maybe you've given up and are looking forward to a ghost town. I for one am not. Consolidate schools and revitalize this dying community. : : : : : : Third, Why should we pay $130 million to fix our old schools when a new state of the art school would be much less? : : : : : : : : : : First of all, the 130 million amount is if you would renovate every school as top of the line. There were an awful lot of options presented that the school board could use any of them, none of them, or in between. It seems like people that just want a new school jump on that last figure like it is the only option. Another thought. I remember when the Mothman movie was in town all the complaining about the traffic! Letters to the editor and on this board. Just imagine if we were like Cranberry. Then people would complain about that all over again. It sounds to me that anyone comparing us to Freeport or one of the other districts doesn't get out of the FC-Kittanning boundaries much in our school district. You just assume that we should just have one school like Freeport because you are only looking at your immediate area. As I said before, there is NO comparison because we are so spread out. Our school district is the fifth largest in area out of 501 school districts. Dancu even stated we are unique because of that. If it was such a simple matter don't you think we wouldn't be having this discussion right now? Maybe you want to live in an area where my only choice is one high school within 400 square miles, but I don't. I know kids that get on the bus now at 6:00 am. Is that what you want for your kids? I don't. : : : : I don't know what you consider "top of the line" renovations, but anything below the level 3 renovations which you call "top of the line" are mere band aids. Level 3 include modernizing science labs...which if you ask any ASD grad...are way behind the times when they move onto college...and actually upgrading the educational facilities a little bit. Level 3 includes updating equipment 50 years out of date in the cafeterias etc...levels 1 and 2 include fixing heating systems and rooves and cracking and molded plaster and sewage systems...level 3 won't put us anywhere near "top of the line". Read the reports. They are online at the ASD website. Geez...we could only hope for top of the line...spending 130+ million and still no "top of the line" renovations would even be included!!! : : : : : : As for the $ amounts, we all know that's a bunch of bs. Look at how much more West Hills and Shamokin both ended up costing. I don't recall the dollar amount, but they were both far over the estimated amount. Which to me says that the board used a lower estimate to justify voting to build. As for these current estimates, probably the same. They are probably using inflated figures for renovation and deflated figures for building a new school. Even after this, renovation still seems like the way to go. : : : That's just the decision on which construction will be more cost effective. It doesn't even take into account that, judging by maintained the current building at Kittanning, even if they build a new school, they'll be in the same boat in another 20-25 years. What's to make us believe otherwise? : : : Then there's the bussing issue. Time and time again, I've heard people using the expanse of the district as a selling point for building a centralized school. Quite to the contrary, the fact that the district is so large is a very substantial reason NOT to consolidate. : : : Longer runs equals more fuel equals higher taxes. : : : If you can't understand this, let's use a larger scale to drive the point home.... : : : If there was a mega-mega school, say in Centre county, can you imagine how much more fuel it would take to bus each and every kid to and from centre county , instead of their local schools. : : : I realize this is a RIDICULOUS example, but it only magnifies the obvious. : : : : : You keep getting hung up on this bussing thing...what is bussing compared to the cost of buildings...you are also accusing the architects of lying about figures...there were not figures given for a new construction yet...so how can they be lying about a cost? Also, understand if you are in the business of construction, you would know that estimates are made based on the cost of building materials at the time of the study...they can and usually do go up when a placeis under construction...so to say that cost estimates are lies is not the way the construction business works. YOu are just trying to find loopholes to keep fixing old buildings. AT some point, they need more than leak repairs and updates to help improve the level of education. : : Transportation is a constant expense, erecting a new building is not. The transportation costs will probably escelate over time. So, you are looking at a constant and increasing expense placed on the taxpayers. : Nobody is trying to find loopholes. I think the poster has a very good memory. History repeats itself. The board in the early 90's attempted to hoodwink the people in dealing with costs. They did the same thing in the 80's. It is not like this has not been talked about or acted upon before. Each time the figures were diced and sliced from the actual numbers. Running over cost is nothing out of the norm for this school board. Look how they low-balled the West Hills campus and then kept going over-budget and then voted to keep sinking more money into the project. : Hey, the people are not fools. Once the first shovel of dirt is moved to build the super-school, nothing is going to stop the school board from emptying the piggy bank to finish the building, even if there are those "unforeseen costs." : What are they going to do, halt the project and rip ti down because they are going over cost? Nah, they are just going to vote to allow for money and kick the taxpayers in the teeth even more. : These processes are not new. Sad to say, but we have all been through this before. It was a sham then, and it is sham now. This is all just to put a few extra bucks in the pockets of a few selected landowners. These people are getting older, so they are moving with urgency in trying to get their money before the opportunity is gone.

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