Thanks again for another well-researched post. If there's no looming surge in enrollment, then I want to know how much excess capacity D65 has. If D65 has capacity for 8,000 students and only 6,000 are attending, then why is D65 building a new school and keeping all of the existing ones open? They are adding capacity that is unnecessa…
Thanks again for another well-researched post. If there's no looming surge in enrollment, then I want to know how much excess capacity D65 has. If D65 has capacity for 8,000 students and only 6,000 are attending, then why is D65 building a new school and keeping all of the existing ones open? They are adding capacity that is unnecessary. If the average age of the school buildings is 77 years, then building a new school makes some sense. However, if they were responsible stewards of our tax dollars, they would maybe close a school (or two) and reconfigure the school boundaries. I know there would be controversy since no one wants to lose their neighborhood school - but the Board and Admins need to make tough choices given what's going on. And they aren't.
New School + Keep Old Schools + No Reassignment = Financial Problems
New School + Keep Old Schools + Minimal Reassignment = Maybe?
New School + Close 1 Old School + No Reassignment = Angry Parents/Teachers in closure area
New School + Keep Old Schools + Reassignment = Angry Parents/Teachers in reassigned areas
I mean, the ideal outcome is:
New School + Keep Old Schools + Minimal Reassignment
I think this is what they've communicated the current plan is. It's a real fine line, though. I'm not sure our elected board and administration has the political skill to pull this off.
My son's class has 17 students in it. I am not going to complain about that. But if they build a new school and reassign the teachers, so he's back in a class with 28, I am not going to be happy!
Is there any disclosure on the average cost to maintain a D65 school building beyond fixed costs like teachers? I worked for a large hotel company during Covid. We closed many properties bc some were costing over $1 million a month to just stay open with no guests. And, they were not 77 years old. So, when you combine required cap ex (roofs, HVAC, etc), with janitorial staff, heat, water, etc. it could gives you a sense of the overhead.
Good question - I will look into this. The current state of records related to D65 physical asset records is not very good, so I'm not optimistic. I will poke around, though, there are a few documents they had Cordogan & Clark generate a few months ago I can FOIA.
Thanks again for another well-researched post. If there's no looming surge in enrollment, then I want to know how much excess capacity D65 has. If D65 has capacity for 8,000 students and only 6,000 are attending, then why is D65 building a new school and keeping all of the existing ones open? They are adding capacity that is unnecessary. If the average age of the school buildings is 77 years, then building a new school makes some sense. However, if they were responsible stewards of our tax dollars, they would maybe close a school (or two) and reconfigure the school boundaries. I know there would be controversy since no one wants to lose their neighborhood school - but the Board and Admins need to make tough choices given what's going on. And they aren't.
To your point, I see these possible outcomes:
New School + Keep Old Schools + No Reassignment = Financial Problems
New School + Keep Old Schools + Minimal Reassignment = Maybe?
New School + Close 1 Old School + No Reassignment = Angry Parents/Teachers in closure area
New School + Keep Old Schools + Reassignment = Angry Parents/Teachers in reassigned areas
I mean, the ideal outcome is:
New School + Keep Old Schools + Minimal Reassignment
I think this is what they've communicated the current plan is. It's a real fine line, though. I'm not sure our elected board and administration has the political skill to pull this off.
My son's class has 17 students in it. I am not going to complain about that. But if they build a new school and reassign the teachers, so he's back in a class with 28, I am not going to be happy!
Is there any disclosure on the average cost to maintain a D65 school building beyond fixed costs like teachers? I worked for a large hotel company during Covid. We closed many properties bc some were costing over $1 million a month to just stay open with no guests. And, they were not 77 years old. So, when you combine required cap ex (roofs, HVAC, etc), with janitorial staff, heat, water, etc. it could gives you a sense of the overhead.
Good question - I will look into this. The current state of records related to D65 physical asset records is not very good, so I'm not optimistic. I will poke around, though, there are a few documents they had Cordogan & Clark generate a few months ago I can FOIA.