We need to replace Bennett Middle School. I don’t think there is anyone arguing that we don’t. Accepting this, does that mean the Wicomico County Council should vote on Tuesday to include a new Bennett Middle School in the county’s capital budget? No.
There is no question that Wicomico County cannot afford the project this year. Why, then, should the council agree to include the project?
The argument goes something like this …
By putting the project in the capital budget now we are not committing to funding it. Unless the county’s financial picture changes, we don’t have to include it when the county passes its bond bill in the fall. However, if we don’t the county loses that flexibility. We will certainly face higher construction costs in the future AND we move to the bottom of the pile when seeking funding from the state.
All of this is true. In fact, if a majority of council votes to include a new Bennett Middle in the capital budget on Tuesday this is the same argument we will hear in the fall when passing the bond bill.
Betting On the “Come”
Given the last two rounds of property reassessments, and the current trend in income tax receipts, does any member of council honestly believe that the county’s financial picture will change sufficiently to justify borrowing this money in the fall? Of course not! Why include a project that you wouldn’t vote to fund … unless your real intention is to go ahead and add to the county’s dangerously high debt levels with no real plan for funding it? When voters elected 6 Republican, and supposedly conservative, council members last November they thought the days of “betting on the come” would end in Wicomico County. Tuesday’s council vote will let voters know if this is really true.
A Monument to John Fredericksen’s Ego
While the county’s less than rosy financial situation is reason enough to strip the Bennett Middle project from the capital budget, there is another very important reason for doing so. Superintendent John Fredericksen, and the Wicomico County Board of Education all need to be taught an important lesson – deceiving the council AND the voters of Wicomico County should not be rewarded.
In Monday’s Daily Times we are treated to the following:
School board President Michelle Wright and Superintendent John Fredericksen say there are good reasons to keep the project a possibility. It would give the school system and county more time to discuss cost-cutting ideas and to pursue alternative financing ideas, they say.
Really John? Really Michelle? Just last week the School Building Commission received a consultant’s report (costing the taxpayers almost $20,000) that outlined some very modest cost cutting measures in the proposed project. The BOE stance was that replacing brick pavers (expensive) with more modest concrete would harm the “ambiance” of the school. While I’m sure that the BOE will “discuss” cost-cutting ideas, they are only going to implement them if FORCED. Sadly, County Executive Rick Pollitt doesn’t possess the backbone to force the BOE to do anything.
In an earlier DT article, Wright is quoted:
Wright said though she was aware there was a perception the building was a "Taj Mahal" and more than needed, it was her understanding that all of its features were necessary to meet state construction guidelines and instructional needs.
Are we to believe that the state is REQUIRING brick pavers? I know that this is one minor example. However, it is illustrative. The public simply cannot trust the word of Fredericksen or most of the Board members. The building IS a “Taj Mahal”. The proposed project is a monument to the collective egos of John Fredericksen and the majority of his board members (along with numerous BOE bureaucrats).
We’re NOT Playing Politics
To add insult to injury, Fredericksen and his merry little band are using YOUR tax dollars to politicize the issue.
We shouldn’t forget that your tax dollars go to pay the salary of the wife of the Daily Times’ Managing Editor. Coincidentally (sure), the DT has run at least 3 articles on this subject in the past week!
In addition, tax dollars are being used to “communicate to parents” the “need” to move this forward NOW. Using tax dollars to “encourage” parents and board employees to lobby for more county spending (and debt) is legal, but ethically questionable.
However, we shouldn’t be shocked that board members such as retired teacher Ron Willey find no problem with this:
Board member Ron Willey said he didn't want the board to be perceived as running a political campaign, but he thought it was important to communicate to parents of students at BMS feeder schools that the project was in jeopardy.
The Bottom Line
Wicomico County simply can’t afford to build a new Bennett Middle this year. Even if we could, funding this monument to ego shouldn’t be funded REGARDLESS of the county’s current financial situation.
Fredericksen and Wright should be forced to come up with a REALISTIC and financially prudent plan BEFORE the council agrees to move this project forward. A vote by council to place this on the county’s capital budget is a vote to endorse the spendthrift ways of the WCBOE, a vote for more fiscal chicanery, and a signal that the taxpayers of Wicomico County simply don’t matter in comparison to the desires of the county’s largest bureaucracy.
27 comments:
no, the promise almost 30 years ago is the next school would be built on the eastside and when they built the new bennett highschool they went back on their promises and again now with the new bennett middle
What is the point of having a "conservative" Republican super majority on the County Council if they are going to approve waste like this.
But that grass covered roof will surely mean better SAT scores, right, Dr. Freddy?
In meetings over the past month or so, the Board and its special construction committee have shown that they are totally against reasonable changes to reduce the cost. And the entire building should be redesigned to a more economical structure. This is gross negligence and shows why this project should be stopped now, or it will be too late.
It also shows why we need to switch to an elected school board.
This layout looks like the Wi-Hi boondoogle of the mid-fifties all over again. Please Council members, "just say no"!
solution: make the proper cuts and build the school, cut out the back door programs and special deals that our taxes are funding, do away with the wasteful spending, consolidate some positions(too many chief's, not enough indians)and get back to putting us in the positive. I realize none of this will ever happen, but i figured, what the heck. Sometimes you have to show the picture for some to grasp it.
I dare any Council member who votes against this to sit in my son's classes next fall as he sweats through the first month and last two months at Bennett Middle. If we left pets in the condition we leave kids at BMS, the Human Society would take them away.
We'll find out what the Council Members value - the safety and education of our children OR a few dollars "saved" that will make already wealthy slumlords happy and no one else. In fact, no tax dollars will be "saved" - the state money will simply be assigned to another county to help them build a school that our students should be getting.
The Council can't raise taxes to pay for it. The voters of Wicomico County already took care of that. So why not use the state tax dollars we pay to Annapolis for a project that will help our kids?
1:11p--Are you one on the council since you already know how they are going to vote? Didn't think so.
Why, then, are you so quick to judge the council members when the meeting and vote hasn't even taken place yet. I just don't understand people like you who make such statements like you did.
All you "come here's" need to go back to where you came from if you want the best eduction for your kids. Adequate is the rule in Wicomico County. Especially during a recession!
Just say NO, Council. This is a "want" and not an immediate "need".
right you are 332, but for your spelling of "education", right you are
Absolutely No. Parents with children: pool your own money together for the funds to build this school. Or, use your own resources and build the school yourselves. You guys get plenty of tax advantage with kids. Use it for the good of your kids.
I agree the school is a dump! It has as of a few weeks ago 913 kids! The school is only built for about half of that. Bennett Middle has more students that any other middle school in wicomic county! they have no a/c. In the warmer weather they use Chicken House fans in the halls.. Window dont work in classrooms. Its awful. Any Parent whose child attends this school would agree our kids deserve better
This is one reason why business stays away from this area. The workforce is uneducated and doesn't value education. The cost and design can be attributed to the state environmental requirements and state funded jobs must be mostly union. That school needs to be replaced and it needs to be replaced now. Some of you along with G.A. won't be happy until no tax funds pay for schools.
even worse than the fact that the county is wasting this money on "bells and whistles" is that the Construction Manager on the project WT will send all of the sub contracts to baltimore companies and you have salisbury companies paying taxes for this school that are starving. Such a shame.
Fruitland Generic Citizen -
Let's try a more cogent argument next time. IF the council votes for this boondoggle (and it IS a boondoggle), do you think that the new BMS would be ready next year? IF the council voted for it Tuesday, they wouldn't vote on the bond bill until AUGUST! Can't build a school in a month.
You seem to believe that this will cost the Wicomico tax coffers nothing. You are wrong. While it is true that the state would pick up most of the tab (through our tax dollars) and that the money will go elsewhere if we don't use it, we still have no business building this monument to John Fredericksen's ego.
The WCBOE needs to come to the table with a realistic plan, stop lying to the county council AND the public and THEN the council should approve the project.
332
Do you really have to pull the "come-here" card? It seems as though natives are the one pushing for this. I, as a "come-here" know that the county doesn't have the money for this, and we CAN'T afford it!
Um, My K-8 school was not air conditioned, we never got a "too hot" day off, and I turned out alright and hold no animosity for the system.
So, what here is so broken that can't wait a year or two?
Are we just too soft and wetting our pants here?
no doubt JMBMiddle School needs to be replaced. However, I need a roof on my home, money for heating oil, dental work, health insurance but I am self employed and can't afford any of those things. They are absolute needs. People need to understand that there are very hard times out here and we need to delay the building of a state of the art school until we can afford it.
Anon 1830 -
You couldn't be farther from the truth. I, along with many others, worked very hard to get a new JMB High School approved and funded. I also believe that we need a new BMS.
Despite the fact that my kids have all gone to private school (except my oldest who did go to JMBHS for three years), and that my youngest is graduating this year, I value a good public school system. Unfortunatly, this proposal is NOT what we need and the WCBOE needs to stop deceiving the public.
It is sad, but true, that there are those in our community (very few, fortunately) who would like to see our public schools stripped of funding. I am not one of them. However, until we have a Board of Ed that is willing to demand that our tax dollars be spent wisely I will continue to argue against wasteful spending such as this plan.
A new BMS? Yes! A monument to the collective egos of John Fredericksen, the bureaucracy, and most of the the school board? NO!
That school was falling down when I went there 35 years ago. either build it or privatize the school system.
BMS needs to be replaced. It was hot 30 years ago too. But most of us didn't have AC so it didn't bother us as much then. The problem with education is the quality of teacher more than the building. We need to pay for performance and the quality of education will increase.
Just watch "Waiting for Superman"--that will change the way some view our public education. It's not about the children as much as it is about the adults/unions/etc.
Will the public be able to speak tonight at the council meeting before a vote is taken. Is this a public hearing?
this school is being built for the admins and teachers and BOE. simple. i went to school and we have no A/C and I was fine. Now that doesnt mean that BM school is adequate, but don't give the too hot excuse.
the real need is teachers who are really held accountable and get this liberal indoctrination out, but that wont happen either.
and YES our state tax dollars pay for it from out paychecks, and yes our land taxes for homeowners PAY for ALL the NEW ELECTRIC/water/sewer that is gonna be running through that school. that electric use will DOUBLE EASY (geothermal or not) and that means the tax line bottom dollar is gonna have to go up OR they are gonna have to get rid of another cost at the BOE (cut teachers? RIGHT)!!!!!!
Air conditioning is the least of that schools problems. If no new school is built - they should at least put some money into fixing that one up a little. It really is disgusting on the inside. I am sure the council members would not be happy working in those conditions all day.
Of course we should build it, but not until and unless our State ponies up with the money.
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