A Letter To The Editor 9-28-12

Dear Taxpayers, On Oct 2, the County Council will have a final approval vote for the 12.5 million dollar bond for the continuation of the Bennett Middle School. The county will still have to fund over 40 million dollars in bonds for this project. The BOE and their public relation machine have done their very best in convincing the public of the need for this project. I agree a new building is needed to replace the old building. I do not agree with the methods that the BOE went about getting this new project and the costly design of the new building. The BOE for many years have neglected the maintance of the current building and the systems inside the building. They knew a new school was in the long term schedule and let the building run down. One of the major complaints was the lack of air conditioning in the building. This building could have been retrofitted with portable air conditioning units that do not require ducting. These types of units are being put into Pittsville Elementary School at this time. This could have been done years ago to help with the problem and extend the life of the building until a new school was build. The BOE choose to not do anything and waited to use the scare tactic on the public to say how bad it was in the school. The new school has the most costly design that can be imagined. The specifications are calling for the most costly elements that are on the market. The specifications are in some cases favoring one manufacturer over another. The other manufacturers are equal to the favorite, but are less costly and have the same guaranteed warranties. Attached are drawings from the BOE website that show some of the building elements that are costly and are not needed. Once the BOE got the public demanding a new building, they designed a building with costly elements. They figured the public wouldn’t figure it out until the building was done. Once the building is done, it’s too late to take it back. If the construction costs of new school projects are not put in check, the next new major school project will be approaching 100 million dollars. The BOE must understand that the taxpayers want these projects to be within a reasonable budget. The BOE does not have a blank check to spend on unneeded items on a school project. In order for the BOE to be made to pay attention, here are a few things that need to be done. Contact the county council members and voice your opinion to how you want your taxpayer money is being spent on school projects. Contact the BOE and ask for Brian Foret in the Facilities Department and ask him why our taxpayer money is not being carefully spent. This is the department where these projects start. They are in charge of overseeing the design on these projects. Ask him why we need all the extra items in a school project. Ask him if these extra items will teach our children any better. It may take a while to reach this department as they may not what to answer these questions. The more people voice their opinions to the county council and the BOE, the sooner we can get these construction project costs in line for now and in the future.