Whoa, whoa, whoa! As I recall from the pandemic lockdowns, the superintendent made it pretty clear that any criticism of him or his policies is white supremacist in origin. Raising his salary and creating patronage positions are the problem, your racism is!
Just to be clear here, it wasn't Dr. Horton saying these things (or at least I don't recall him saying it); it was Ms. Lindsay-Ryan (board member), Ms. Tanyavutti (board member) and a handful of his supporters in public forums.
My position: criticism of salary of any public official is subject to critique, it's part of the role.
(Edit) I also want to be clear that I think people are allowed to have that opinion. You're certainly welcome to believe criticism is a form of racism, just like any other opinion. I just happen to disagree on this note.
Tom, Yes, people are moving in who can pay the freight... but the diversity is leaving... and methinks it's going to get worse as our community continues to hemorrhage money - especially on expensive and unnecessary projects.
Hello Tom, IMHO, it certainly is a financial problem. How many more teachers will be needed to populate a new school? (think pensions, healthcare, etc.). What is cost of borrowing money to the community? What's the annual cost to maintain the upkeep of this new school? I don't think busing is going to go away... Very large sums of money are flying out the door for pet projects in the community ($6.3 Mil for an animal shelter, the more than double costing Crown Center +$60 MIL , the proposal to sell off the Civic Center and relocate a new one downtown - another $50 - 100 Mil...) It's getting harder to afford living here and people are leaving town due to the very high cost of living. And let's not forget the current $250 Mil in pension obligations...
I'm not arguing with you; I just think there are a lot of unknowns with the new school that neither you nor I can really answer sufficiently. The reality (like with most things) is somewhere in the middle between the most dire and the most optimistic.
Also, people are leaving town but new people are moving in. It's not like there are abandoned houses all over the place. I still can't afford a house here...
I do appreciate your comments - keep it coming! The more we all talk about this stuff in the open, the more likely we are to have outcomes that land in the middle instead of the extremes! Reasonable disagreements are part of the democratic process!
Also, I haven't looked much into city stuff yet but that's coming. I have a lot to say about some of those projects...
Thanks for this Tom, Risking jumping on a third rail here, I am very concerned about the clear decline in enrollment in District 65 schools and the wish to build a new school in the the 5th ward... This has a price tag of ~$50 Mil... I am all for social justice and equity but at what cost? This from the Evanston RoundTable in February of 2022 https://evanstonroundtable.com/2022/02/04/district-65-enrollment-decline-continues/
Respectfully submitted, Brian G. Becharas (Lincoln, Nichols, ETHS)
Hang tight, I’ve got a post coming on this! I actually don’t think it’s quite the crisis you describe (mostly because revenue and enrollment are uncorrelated), although, it does present some serious risks in other ways. The new school actually does present some financial benefits as well (bussing is very expensive 3-5mm per year). I will argue that enrollment is mostly not a financial problem, but it is a political problem.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! As I recall from the pandemic lockdowns, the superintendent made it pretty clear that any criticism of him or his policies is white supremacist in origin. Raising his salary and creating patronage positions are the problem, your racism is!
Just to be clear here, it wasn't Dr. Horton saying these things (or at least I don't recall him saying it); it was Ms. Lindsay-Ryan (board member), Ms. Tanyavutti (board member) and a handful of his supporters in public forums.
My position: criticism of salary of any public official is subject to critique, it's part of the role.
(Edit) I also want to be clear that I think people are allowed to have that opinion. You're certainly welcome to believe criticism is a form of racism, just like any other opinion. I just happen to disagree on this note.
Tom, Yes, people are moving in who can pay the freight... but the diversity is leaving... and methinks it's going to get worse as our community continues to hemorrhage money - especially on expensive and unnecessary projects.
Hello Tom, IMHO, it certainly is a financial problem. How many more teachers will be needed to populate a new school? (think pensions, healthcare, etc.). What is cost of borrowing money to the community? What's the annual cost to maintain the upkeep of this new school? I don't think busing is going to go away... Very large sums of money are flying out the door for pet projects in the community ($6.3 Mil for an animal shelter, the more than double costing Crown Center +$60 MIL , the proposal to sell off the Civic Center and relocate a new one downtown - another $50 - 100 Mil...) It's getting harder to afford living here and people are leaving town due to the very high cost of living. And let's not forget the current $250 Mil in pension obligations...
I'm not arguing with you; I just think there are a lot of unknowns with the new school that neither you nor I can really answer sufficiently. The reality (like with most things) is somewhere in the middle between the most dire and the most optimistic.
Also, people are leaving town but new people are moving in. It's not like there are abandoned houses all over the place. I still can't afford a house here...
I do appreciate your comments - keep it coming! The more we all talk about this stuff in the open, the more likely we are to have outcomes that land in the middle instead of the extremes! Reasonable disagreements are part of the democratic process!
Also, I haven't looked much into city stuff yet but that's coming. I have a lot to say about some of those projects...
Thanks for this Tom, Risking jumping on a third rail here, I am very concerned about the clear decline in enrollment in District 65 schools and the wish to build a new school in the the 5th ward... This has a price tag of ~$50 Mil... I am all for social justice and equity but at what cost? This from the Evanston RoundTable in February of 2022 https://evanstonroundtable.com/2022/02/04/district-65-enrollment-decline-continues/
Respectfully submitted, Brian G. Becharas (Lincoln, Nichols, ETHS)
Hang tight, I’ve got a post coming on this! I actually don’t think it’s quite the crisis you describe (mostly because revenue and enrollment are uncorrelated), although, it does present some serious risks in other ways. The new school actually does present some financial benefits as well (bussing is very expensive 3-5mm per year). I will argue that enrollment is mostly not a financial problem, but it is a political problem.