The 53 Million Dollar School
53 million dollars for the new school,
Fifty-three million dollars for a new school. $53,000,000 for a new school. $53,000,000.00 for a new school. How many ways can you say Fifty-Three Million dollars for a new school without throwing up?
How many times can you see
53 million dollars for the new school, 53 million dollars for the new school,
53 million dollars for the new school,
53 million dollars for the new school,
53 million dollars for the new school,
before you realize how much actual money that is and what it will cost each taxpayer in Giles County to pay that bill.
The County Commission has been stacked with people earning an income from the school system or very supportive so you know this will pass.
Mr. Wright said "the decisions we make about the schools are going to affect the county for the next hundred years" and he is absolutely right because it will take a hundred years to pay off this debt and do away with the wheel tax that will pay for it. Consider that this 53 million dollar debt will be closer to 60 million when finance charges and cost overruns are added. If the county was able to pay just a million dollars a year on this it would take 60 years to pay it off, keep in mind there will be the continuing maintenance and cost to use those buildings. It's no wonder, Mr. Wright states it will "affect the county for the next hundred years".
posted by Allen Barrett | 9:39 AM
30 Comments:
Thank you Mr. Barrett. I surely hope this county sees fit to disagree with building a new school for the sake of just having a new one. We cannot afford it. If the high school can be renovated for middle school students, it can be renovated for high school students.
There is another underlying reason to build a new school and move the Bridgeforth students across town. It's all about ONE board member wanting to close Bridgeforth for personal reasons. He has made that perfectly clear.
It seems the newspaper is in the corner of trying to sway the community on building a new high school. It reported today that the enrollment is up in Giles County. Sure, the elementary schools may have a slight increase, but remember the number of students who have left the system to go to CA or Cornersville in the past few days.
The director is not in Maury County where they plucked him to do this job. Maury County has a greater tax base than Giles County and MANY MORE students. Besides not being able to afford a new school, we DO NOT need a new high school.
Don't be so taken by school board members looking to put their names on a wall plaque and a director not knowing what is really needed in our community.
They have also boasted about the high school graduation rate rising. Hell, it has to when you give grades for sleeping and a coach teaching (excuse me) sitting in a classroom filling in as a body.
Jeepers, creepers, the place is a mess with the administration and football mentality.
That is interesting as teachers have been told warm body count is down.
Somebody is lying.
When you consider that the largest group of students are in the tenth grade, at GCHS, and with the drop out rate being over 25 percent will make a twelveth grade class as small as the current one thus the number of actual students are continuing to decline not increase.
The thing that continues to be the most revealing of all is the simple fact that there has not been one single study by any independent agency or group that has reported the need for a new High School or any other school in Giles county.
Wright is just pushing a school because of the board chairman and a couple of others on there. When the board members won't let their own attend GCHS, there is more wrong than a need for a new school. Maury County just built a new high school. Maybe, Mr. Wright would like to go back to Maury County where they have much more money.
A couple of things here.
1, Allen, Many people are not interested in facts, just their "feelings" on the subject. It's always about money so just follow the money and you'll find the motivation.
2. The problem is systemic. So, until you change the Board which can change the Director who hires the Principals who hire the teachers who teach the children, you're going to get the same old shit.
Remember the definition of insanity: doing the exact same thing over a over again and expecting different results. Building a new High School is just cosmetic. Change the Board and you'll change the results.
One question. How many people with a background in education are on the Board? There are several educators not from Giles county that have retired here that I know that might serve if asked. I even know some Professors of Education that have retired here that could give some good input. What about them?
Now I have seen on this blog people saying that they don't like people coming in from the "outside" and "telling us what to do" but it might just be the answer.
I went back and checked my notes on building a new High School to replace GCHS and just as I had thought the original amount that was talked about was fourteen million dollars. From fourteen million to fifty-three million seems like a big jump but the fifty-three million isn't even the final cost as there will be changes made, delays, etc that will increase the cost. Then there is the interest on fifty-three million plus the extra cost for insurance, maintenance, and transportation. When this thing is finally given a more realistic number the cost will be much closer to eighty million than fifty-three.
The County Commissioners have promised, rightly so, to introduce a measure to allow the public to vote in a referendum during the next election. I very much support this plan for a referendum and congratulate the County Commissioners who will support and vote for it.
Any commissioner who votes to build a new high school for the sake of pleasing a useless board should be voted out in the upcoming elections next year. Pay attention to those who could care less about tax payers and more about doing the wrong thing.
If a new school was built, would it be kept up and looking good long enough to get it paid for? Or will they let it run down and be abused like they have the old buildings? Those old school buildings that burned were in better shape than the ones built since then, just needed more rooms.
There is no need for a new high school. Renovate the one that is there.
So as preparations are being made to build a new school they now want to dig up the track at GCHS and build a new one. Did the school system win the lottery or just act like they did?
How hard is it to understand "priorities"? Repair the buildings, then move outside to other things
The need to dig up the track comes from the University of Tennessee not having enough area to practice. They need about 10 acres and a covered facility (that's coming next). They are also paranoid that the people walking the track are spying on them and taking notes on their plays for the next game. Ha Ha!!
Poor olé Bobcats done got they assed handed to them twice already. I'll bet them football boys are getting ill. Maybe one day our system will focus on education again. This football thing ain't working.
They had that opportunity to focus on educating all our children, but chose football over what was right. Poor choice. So, let's build a new high school to divert the focus of what we should have done.
As long as I can pull some strings and get my boy some playing time, who cares about the discipline and what the students learn.
There is more truth to 11:04 than people think.
And everyone who pays attention knows who is doing it. Their child would be better off not playing!
You can always spot the kids who put football above education. They're the ones who are still wearing their football jackets 5 years after they graduated...if they ever did.
Dr. Gonzales Daughter just got a job at high school starting out at 50,000. Now what is wrong with this picture. Some teachers will never see that kind of money.
11:36 Nepotism is alive and well in Giles County...always has been, always will be. What's even more amazing is that Gonzales' daughter was hired as a librarian and she is not certified for that job. Other applicants who were certified librarians were rejected so that Gonzales's daughter could be hired. Pathetic.
Gonzo was the first to stand up and say that the rules and standards must be followed. That is...until his family is involved and there are no rules and standards. He is a liar just like the board he works with. He is no better that Holt, Brewer or McMasters.
No different than CY who's daughter got a guidance counselor position without proper certification. Then her other daughter got the Ag position at GCHS. Then a building program was created at Richland that her son in law headed up. All in the same year...yep, nepotism at its finest.
Wright got relatives a job as well. Nepotism breeds more of the same. It is a shame that they got jobs that they were not qualified to have. It doesn't make any difference, no one will complain. That's what's terrible. No one stands up for all the wrong that has occurred in this county.
Nothing will happen until these terrible people are voted out of office. Just do it! Get ur done!
Do you people live under a rock Barret has been fighting with this school system and county government for at least ten years, damn the man even went to jail for standing up to the system. Don't nobody remember the trial where Jackson and Gonzolas was humiliated by what Barret and the other guy told was happening? He has stood up to the school and government and this blog has give everbody a chance to know what's going on. Do you think anything that was said here would have been put in the newspaper and radio Barret and this blog is all. I don't know why he ain't a commissioner or on the school board.
To the 12 Oct. 7:58am poster.
Thanks, I appreciate your kind words and accurate recollections.
Wright asking for Commissioners to support a new school...That's amazing! He wants the county to go into debt for something that is not needed and will take forever to pay the debt. Why is he SO hell bent in wanting a new school. The school system should focus of trying improve from within starting with the Director and the football mentality that has overshadowed why children go to school.
He does not want the public to decide the fate of a new school; he wants the commissioners to decide. That's not a director who wants to work with the public. He wants to sidestep anyone who disagrees with what HE wants. Bull....
A new school would look very pretty on his resume which he would be using long before we pay off the debt. I read on here somewhere that they haven't had any studies done about even needing a new school. is that true?
No study done except what the assistant lizard did. He asked people if we should build a school and used it to say the public and county wants a new school.
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