School bond bummer

I must now apologize to my younger self.

As one who attended Springfield Public Schools, I remember days staring at the chalk board and sweating in my chair. At certain times near the beginning and end of the school year, it was inescapable. The heat. On the hottest days, they'd let us bring our own water bottles.

Occasionally at Parkview, a wasp would fly in one of the seemingly thousands of open windows and terrorize the class while a distracted teacher would tell us to 'just ignore it.' We couldn't, of course.

I am sure I was not the only student who found it offensive that the only part of the school that was air-conditioned was the administrative offices. Rumors were that it was also air-conditioned in the teachers' lounge, but I never went in there.

I'm apologizing now because today I did something I never thought I'd do. I voted against air conditioning some Springfield Public Schools.

Here's the thing -- and I only learned this after reading Ralph Plank's letter to the editor -- two of the schools they want to air-condition, Reed and my alma mater Jarrett, are schools they want to tear down and build again. A look at current bond projects and future proposed projects reveals a disturbing pair of competing priorities.

While I am not as convinced as he seems to be that a new middle school at Westport is a bad thing, I don't quite understand why the school district is pressing forward with plans despite the objections of parents in that area. They say they'll save money consolidating the alternatives' programs, but I'm not sure why that's needed either. Obviously, the facilities are already in place.

Plus I'm bummed out that the district feels its necessary to move its administrative offices to a place its going to have to remodel anyway. Neither Gerry Lee nor Norm Ridder laid out strong arguments for the move when I interviewed them for my ballot story. And neither would say that's a permanent move.

I'm not someone who is against stimulus funds. In fact, I like that they were trying to take advantage of the available dollars. Dollars that won't be there if the bond measure fails. But I don't understand why the district is looking to air-condition schools that they want to tear down soon. And as Bob Mace points out (page 6 on the link), I don't like that the district is holding any events in University Plaza when the Doling building or any number of its other buildings is available.

I voted for the 2006 bond issue, but I couldn't bring myself to vote for this one. Perhaps if voters send a message to the district now, it will remember this is real money its playing with. Real money from property working adults buy after they work. Sorry kiddos. Take a water bottle.