Elk Konnected Hand out at County Commissioners meeting on 4/25

[Diane Amberg]

Why be such a smart alec? That is very unnecessarily rude.... CCTP  It's nice that the locals don't punch you out (verbally)  for insulting anyone having anything to do with the schools.

[readyaimduck]

Hi Ross...good the questions are being asked, albeit persuasively directed.  (IMHO)
We are adults and we can decide.  
I wanted to know, if there was not an Elk Konnected (sic)  board member on the staff would you have joined this venue of questions to this organization at this particular time?

Education is important as well as the necessary spending of your tax dollars...(I would think the same of my county).
Don't need to re-iterate your statements Ross...I can read!  ....most times yet the  comprehension is a whole 'nother issue!  
ready.... to be edumacated.

[Ross]

Why be such a smart alec? That is very unnecessarily rude.... CCTP  It's nice that the locals don't punch you out (verbally)  for insulting anyone having anything to do with the schools.

Well I find it a smart assed thing with your silly CCTP. without explaining yourself.
So I guess we are even.

[Ross]

Hi Ross...good the questions are being asked, albeit persuasively directed.  (IMHO)
We are adults and we can decide.  
I wanted to know, if there was not an Elk Konnected (sic)  board member on the staff would you have joined this venue of questions to this organization at this particular time?

Education is important as well as the necessary spending of your tax dollars...(I would think the same of my county).
Don't need to re-iterate your statements Ross...I can read!  ....most times yet the  comprehension is a whole 'nother issue!  
ready.... to be edumacated.

To be frankly honest I don't know Ready.
I did not really want to get involved in politics because of the amount of lying, misdirection and such that is involved in it.

But after that dadgum list out out by Elk Konnected and watching their manipulations of our county government and voting to do for their own organization while the communities had to beg it just set me off.

I'm just stupid I guess. But the school board claimed they had to shut down the Moline School and they needed the trailers worth something in the neighborhood of 1/4 million dollars and have referred to them as an eyesore even prior to getting them. They claimed they could not house all the children in the school building. Well at the last school board meeting they talked about repurposing some rooms in order to house all the children and to get rid of all the trailers. Just where is the sense in that? And they continue to talk about building another gymnasium and community storm shelter.

The school system should not be in business to provide a community storm shelter out side the city limits of Howard for Howard at the expense of people that won't be using it. If Howard wants a community storm shelter they should discuss it with their citizens and probably build it in  the center of town so all their citizens have equal access whether they are walking or driving. We that don't live there should not be asked to provide for Howard. I say if Howard want's the FEMA grants or monies that are available to them, go for it.

If the school wants another gymnasium and more class rooms there is a viable grade school building available and shaming the school board every day it sits empty. Shame, Shame, Shame.

The school board in my estimation wants us to believe if they build a newer bigger school children will just appear out of no where and the economy of Howard will follow. Who do they think they are they kidding? We all saw the movie, "Build It And They Will Come". well that was fiction and paid extras that left after the movie crew was through with them.

Yea Ready, I'm just a crazy redneck old fart that has no understanding of what is going on and they wish I would shut up. They were told no on their 5.5 million dollar bond issue and in effect no to closing down the grade school, but did they listen? They don't even listen to themselves IMHO. They keep saying enrollment is declining yet they continue down the same path. Do they bother to talk raising education standards, NO!

Are they the School Board of Sports, the School Board of Ignore the Taxpayer, the School Board of Construction, or are they the School Board of Education?

I'm sorry I'll step down off the soap box now.

Thanks for asking Ready and have a good night.

[Diane Amberg]

Ross, there are easily obtainable school square footage requirements you could look up for yourself. Number and age of kids x square footage required = minimum size of building, including the usual "specials" and other offices. That's how we knew how big the new  Jr. Sr High Charter school needed to be. We didn't just guess at it. plus we knew how many new grades  we wanted to house.

[Ross]

Ross, there are easily obtainable school square footage requirements you could look up for yourself. Number and age of kids x square footage required = minimum size of building, including the usual "specials" and other offices. That's how we knew how big the new  Jr. Sr High Charter school needed to be. We didn't just guess at it. plus we knew how many new grades  we wanted to house.

That info is not necessary and with our technology and the internet anything in the world can be looked up and all it takes is the ability to decipher good info from bad info.

What is being discussed here is local human behavior and actions and reactions concerning wastefulness of taxpayer dollars. As well as the difference between "want" and "need" locally here in Elk County an nothing to do with living and voting in New Jersey.

First they close down a perfectly good grade school building, then they claim they don't have room in the West Elk school building for all the children and they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for FEMA approved trailers, even though they think of them as eyesores. Two years later (now as in today) they are repurposing (their word) rooms in West Elk so they can move all the children into the main building. Their intention is to get rid hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of FEMA approved trailers, now saying are not FEMA  approved and because they are eyesores. And they are wanting to build a New Gymnasium and throw in a Community Storm Shelter for Howard. The Community Storm Shelter would be for Howard even though the School District is outside of the Howard city limits because Howard is the closest community to the school. Where is the logic, where is the critical thinking in all of this?
They are told a resounding "NO" in a county vote, yet they continue on their agenda. Where is their shame, have they none?

I just can't seem to make the situation any clearer and I hope you understand not even New York City or Los Angeles can have anything to compare with our local situation. I hope, I'm clear as mud. We are a unique county with our own unique people and our own decisions and discussions, this is about local stuff.

We are not discussing Federal stuff here or even State stuff here. We are discussing local stuff. Perhaps if you lived here you could understand, but I don't know.

That's enough for now. TTYL

[flintauqua]

That info is not necessary and with our technology and the internet anything in the world can be looked up and all it takes is the ability to decipher good info from bad info.

And I am sure that if we interpret something and draw a different conclusion than you did, that you will claim we lack the ability to sort out the good from the bad.

[Ross]

And I am sure that if we interpret something and draw a different conclusion than you did, that you will claim we lack the ability to sort out the good from the bad.

Well, I would never say that, but I would reserve the right to disagree with you, and you could do the very same thing.

But, is that it, that's all you got out of that whole post?

Who is we?

Would that be the Elk Konnected School Board President and that tiny group?

The purpose of the school board is to discuss all angles and provide sensible solutions and board members are even courage by the State School Board to have heated discussions. And that is where the conflict should be happening, to prevent the waste of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers dollars. Conflict is good contrary to what some people think. You can not have positive without negative.

I read their statement that the school board should be unified and IMHO, that is totally wrong.  To me that says everyone should agree all the time with one person and  that is not the purpose of having 6 or 7 people on the school board. You know it's like that unified thing discussed on page one of this thread.

Let's review a little bit about their ideas:

Unified Gov't (w/in the county) to save money and become more unified (do away with city gov't, councils­
(cont.) all centrally located-one managing body) (Big Ideas's)

Being unified simply means turning control of all decisions to one person or entity, now doesn't it?
And that would have a tendency to wipe out the individualism of each of our unique little communities, again IMHO!

Leadership for each and every member of the school board is a personal and individual attitude based on aptitude and integrity and should not be compromised by unity as in unified IMHO. Better results would surely happen if attitudes and actions are individual. IMHO!

Do you believe the guy that lives out in the far west or far east or far south west or far south east of the county should pay more school property taxes to provide a Community Storm Shelter for the city of Howard as a part of spend his tax dollars for Education?

[flintauqua]

Do you believe the guy that lives out in the far west or far east or far south west or far south east of the county should pay more school property taxes to provide a Community Storm Shelter for the city of Howard as a part of spend his tax dollars for Education?

I am responding only to point out an error in geography in the above statement.  Far east Elk County is in the Fredonia School District, USD 484 or in the Elk Valley School District, USD 283 as is the southeast corner.  Far southwest Elk County is in the Central of Burden School District, USD 462 and there is even a chunk in the far northwest corner that is in the Eureka School District, USD 389.  

Please don't confuse the boundaries of Elk County with the boundaries of the separate taxing entity of West Elk Unified School District 282.

A more appropriate and geographically correct question would be:

"Would the parents that live in a portion of south-central Greenwood County or a portion of north-central Chautauqua County, and the other land owners of said areas, pay more school property taxes to provide a storm shelter for the protection of the areas' children while in school in central Elk County; a shelter that can also serve as a physical education classroom?"

[Ross]

I am responding only to point out an error in geography in the above statement.  Far east Elk County is in the Fredonia School District, USD 484 or in the Elk Valley School District, USD 283 as is the southeast corner.  Far southwest Elk County is in the Central of Burden School District, USD 462 and there is even a chunk in the far northwest corner that is in the Eureka School District, USD 389.  

Please don't confuse the boundaries of Elk County with the boundaries of the separate taxing entity of West Elk Unified School District 282.

A more appropriate and geographically correct question would be:

"Would the parents that live in a portion of south-central Greenwood County or a portion of north-central Chautauqua County, and the other land owners of said areas, pay more school property taxes to provide a storm shelter for the protection of the areas' children while in school in central Elk County; a shelter that can also serve as a physical education classroom?"

I do believ,e I communicated my point quite clearly, that being, should people that live a distance from Howard be required to pay through property tax for Howard to receive a Community Storm Shelter outside of their city limits?

Should Howard finance their own Community Storm Shelter inside their city limits and apply for the FEMA grant if they want it.

But if you insist lets say the far east part of the school district.
Should the School District be required to provide for only the Howard Community?
How about the School District build a Community Storm shelter in Moline, Elk Falls, Longton and Grenola as well?

Or don't we care about those other communities?

Or is it just all about Howard as usual?



Thank you.