First, it is, has always been and still is the state’s responsibility to educate our children. It seems the No. 1 issue is sports. The new flashing reader board is mostly about sports. Does playing sports require a level of high grades? How much of sports is paid by the school and how much is the parents’ responsibility?
I attended one meeting at the Toledo school library and was not at all impressed by the dog and pony show displayed by Rep. Richard DeBolt and bond committee chairman Dale Merten. I was, however, impressed by the building. It appeared solid — it was terribly maintained but sound. Rather than taking care of what they had, they want to rebuild. What will prevent them from repeating this lack of care on a new one?
Is Merten’s agenda to jam this bond down our throats so they can spend $400,000 (I’m told) in computer equipment in a new school? This budget needs to be defined to the penny, with no bonuses or kickbacks (which is common in these types of contracts.)
Next, are there to be any tariffs involved in this endeavor instead of a “free lunch” from the state; (where do free lunches come from)? Four times this bond has failed. Maybe the voters felt conned. This is our taxpayers’ money here — not the state’s. The taxpayers are no idiots.
If a child wants to learn, he could learn in a barn. Many prominent citizens have proven that over and over.
These scare tactics are only offensive and not working. On a previous letter I wrote, a writer wrote back and called me “mean spirited.” The Kalama bond was huge, but it failed because those folks are not stupid, either. This appears to me to be a competitive issue of what school can have the biggest and best.
As I stated earlier in a letter, I am 75 years old and have never had a child, grandchild or great-grandchild in Toledo. I, for one, cannot afford this huge tax increase. Ditto with many of our seniors. If we were exempt, we would not vote no.
Twice I asked Superintendent Chris Rust to lower those bright lights at the school entrance, as they are extremely hazardous in the rain at night. He said he would, but it is still the same. That shows me about his word. He is the top of the ladder.
At the meeting I attended, Bob Reid offered to replace the school’s windows with high quality glass for one-fifth the cost of the bid price and would be responsible for any overruns, providing they pay him the bid price. They ignored him.
Jerry Walstad
Toledo
