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Post by sadpharmd on Feb 12, 2011 11:46:47 GMT -5
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Post by wantagh4life on Feb 12, 2011 12:58:31 GMT -5
Here we go again...
Desire exceeding financial reality... and further proof that common sense isn't so common.
Has anyone been reading anything on this site, or the newspaper for that matter? We are facing very serious economic challenges, and the best that we can do at the moment is say, "Oh, by the way, we also want full day Kindergarten."
Folks, we've looked foolish in the past when the budget was voted down and the fundraising for the sports programs took place. There we were, building a multi-million dollar sport complex and installing a new turf field and track (all of which far exceeds that facilities of any other comparably sized school district on the south shore), and crying poverty at the same time.
Perhaps I'm oversimplifying matters, but when I go to Home Depot to purchase materials, and I use my credit card, I am prepared to get a bill in about a month, and I understand that I am responsible for paying it.
Anyone who voted in favor of the new (dare I say superfluous) construction and then claimed to be surprised when "the bill arrived" is either being disingenuous or just plain ignorant.
I apologize for my angry tone... but I am very frustrated.
So I can see it now, should the BOE rule in favor of this petition. Young mothers dropping their little children off for their first full day of kindergarten and then walking away saying, "Can you believe how ridiculous the taxes are here!"
Look, I am in favor of full day kindergarten. But now is the time to cut.. and not with a scalpel.
EVERYTHING we want will come with a price tag.
Are you ready to pay the bill?
Because sure as the sun will rise, it will arrive.
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Post by sadpharmd on Feb 12, 2011 14:11:31 GMT -5
Your point about the sports complex is valid and understandable. Its based on priorities, and the allocation of resources. So is this. Assuming academics, and our youngest ARE our #1 priority. Can't we at least TRY to offset this w/ cuts somewhere else?
Quite honestly, I would undoubtedly bet that when mothers drop off their kids at K this September for the first time... and then have to go pay another $2700 on SCOPE, or more $ on sitters, or have to cut hours at work, they'll be saying: "Can you believe how ridiculously HIGH our school taxes are, and yet we still can't have a FULL Day of Kindergarten?"
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Feb 12, 2011 17:41:58 GMT -5
Structural change does not mean easy change. of just picking the low-hanging fruit, and it certainly does not mean one-shots like cutting the sport program for a year on austerity. Structural change in the District's cost base means making long-term reductions in non-teaching personnel, non-classroom "educators", and a host of other (formerly) 'business-as-usual' (bad) spending habits. But, in order to have been done right, structural changes in the cost base must also recognize unfulfilled objectives, like Full-day K, and build that in to the revised cost base.
If we ignore Full-day K, now, then we will not cut enough non-priority spending, we will not get the cost base low enough to EVER have Full-day K. As I said, call me crazy (I am not crazy), but THIS is the year (2011-12) to implement Full-day K, because there will not be another chance to do it for a long, long time.
Trust me, in the end, we will have spent more on raises and benefit increases for our employees than it will cost to implement Full-day K. Funding to implement Full-day K is in direct, head-to-head competition with funding for all the 'sacred cows' in the district. It is YOUR tax money, so where and how and on whom do YOU want it spent?
As the saying goes, "You gotta be in it to win it!"
I hope I am getting through about this, and that people do not think I am crazy to be supporting Full-day K in the midst of structural change taking place.
Seriously,
Chris Wendt
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Post by lilly on Feb 13, 2011 10:56:29 GMT -5
We're still paying off the bond for elementary school extensions where the promise was "in preparation for full day K" that was several years *prior* to the sportsplex bond. Talk about unfulfilled promises especially since the administration/BOE has zero concrete plans to implement full day K. The recent population bubble is now in the HS, not the elem schools so don't see how elem schools have run out of space with contracting population. If space is an issue, begs for Princeton plan/redistricting that cathy mentioned on the other K thread.
Would love to see the pricetags of these concepts beyond "taking a scalpel" to an existing, outdated (irrelevant) manner of budgeting. That would be a real budget discussion.
sadpharm, yes I believe academics first throughout the grades but having HSers myself, they are expensive and do need things so their HS resumes are sell-able to colleges. Still, having HSers I would agree that full day K should be a big priority.
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Post by sadpharmd on Feb 13, 2011 14:34:44 GMT -5
I concur lilly. And at the very LEAST, this discussion will help raise awareness to the parents of youngsters, and all ages...as a call to action, to get involved early and often, to help shape the future for a more responsible, and responsive educational community. Best, Steve
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Feb 13, 2011 15:29:34 GMT -5
Here we go again... Desire exceeding financial reality... and further proof that common sense isn't so common. Has anyone been reading anything on this site, or the newspaper for that matter? We are facing very serious economic challenges, and the best that we can do at the moment is say, "Oh, by the way, we also want full day Kindergarten." Folks, we've looked foolish in the past when the budget was voted down and the fundraising for the sports programs took place. There we were, building a multi-million dollar sport complex and installing a new turf field and track (all of which far exceeds that facilities of any other comparably sized school district on the south shore), and crying poverty at the same time. Perhaps I'm oversimplifying matters, but when I go to Home Depot to purchase materials, and I use my credit card, I am prepared to get a bill in about a month, and I understand that I am responsible for paying it. Anyone who voted in favor of the new (dare I say superfluous) construction and then claimed to be surprised when "the bill arrived" is either being disingenuous or just plain ignorant. I apologize for my angry tone... but I am very frustrated. So I can see it now, should the BOE rule in favor of this petition. Young mothers dropping their little children off for their first full day of kindergarten and then walking away saying, "Can you believe how ridiculous the taxes are here!" Look, I am in favor of full day kindergarten. But now is the time to cut.. and not with a scalpel. EVERYTHING we want will come with a price tag. Are you ready to pay the bill? Because sure as the sun will rise, it will arrive. Well, no need to be so hard on yourself over your tone. That happens. anger and such. It is human. The sports bond is not the topic of this thread. It was voted up by the community freely and fairly, and the items have been built already and are being put to good use. No point in trying to be a 'good loser' or a sore loser over that result, either; George Steinbrenner got it right when he said, "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." But in life, you win some and you lose some. I supported the final bond resolutions that passed, along with all of my fellow board members: Michael Cucci, Ann Marie Sturniolo, Ralph Spagnolo, and Michael Citarrella. It was the right thing to do. Looking back with 20-20 hindsight, it is still the right thing to have done. Full-day Kindergarten or salary increases for employees. That is what this debate is really all about. Anyone with a vested interest in salary raises for employees will, de facto, find themselves in opposition to implementing Full-day Kindergarten, especially at this time, as salary increases already face serious threats. The same threats you pointed to as militating against considering Full-day K, now. I get the picture. But, you would be hard pressed to argue, then, that we can afford salary raises but NOT Full-day K. Or, that at whatever point in the future you think we could afford salary raises that we could not also afford Full-day K at that same time, or a year before any more raises are doled-out by the Board of Education, essentially in return for...nothing. On to it. Chris Wendt
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Feb 14, 2011 13:09:03 GMT -5
Okay, this is interesting, not: 100+ is the number of times this thread has been read. 4 (Count 'em: 1,2,3,4) is the number of votes in the poll. What to make of this? - Not many pre-K parents read this BBS?
- The words we used in this thread are too big for kindergarteners and pre-schoolers to understand?
- The kindergarteners and pre-schooolers who do read this thread understand it all too well, and who wants to vote 'Yes' for double the amount of school you are getting/going to be getting, when you are only 5 or 6 years old?
Just funnin' Chris Wendt
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Mar 7, 2011 7:14:48 GMT -5
"Not Happening."
I had a whole big thing written about this today, but I deleted it when I realized that what I had to say was very reactionary if not somewhat unkind, even though truthful. Sometimes even truthfulness is not productive if neither the time nor the place are appropriate.
The truth will keep, and words will not fail me when the time and place are better suited to productive discussion of this issue.
Chris Wendt
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Post by lilly on Mar 8, 2011 10:00:20 GMT -5
OK Chris, what gives with the cryptic post above?
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