Letters to the Editor 08-27-2003
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Warsaw Schools - WCHS Basketball
Warsaw Schools
Editor, Times-Union:It is amazing how many times this past week I have read in different newspapers and heard on the radio the amount of money Warsaw Community Schools will save if the three small elementaries are closed. The figure changes just like many things about this whole issue change. Some days we hear a savings of $300,000, a conservative estimate, to $688,000, a totally unbelievable figure. What I would like to see is how much this whole proposal will cost us. Where are the figures on the other side of the equation? How much will it cost to bus these children into Warsaw and how much will it cost to refurbish the portables they will be bused to? How much are the utilities for these added spaces? Why can't we get the real figures on both sides so that an educated decision could be made if it is truly prudent to move ahead with this closing plan? It is my understanding that most if not all of the staff at all three elementaries have been guaranteed their positions, including the principals, so what kind of savings do we really have? I do not see savings in the general fund that we so desperately need (according to the financial department) if all of the staff is retained, their salaries and benefits will remain and those come from the general fund.
Another question that comes to mind is, do the parents of the other elementaries realize that all of the students from the elementaries that they propose closing will be put in with their children, causing larger class sizes, over-crowded lunch rooms, etc.? I do see the need to build a new school in the Prairie Township area and I also agree that putting Silver Lake and Claypool students together in a school makes sense; it would make a nice size school for the southern part of the district, but do it in a new building in a more feasible location. Let's do it right the first time. Claypool and Silver Lake have both been promised new schools many times over - build us one. My feeling is, build a new school in the southern part of the district, build a new school in Prairie township, taking care of the truly overcrowded situation, and leave Jefferson Elementary alone for now. Quit wasting taxpayer money to hire professionals to do studies and then not listen to them.
Kathy Lokotar
Silver Lake
via e-mail
WCHS Basketball
Editor, Times-Union:I was shocked when I read in yesterday's (Monday's) paper that the boy's basketball team will be receiving two of every three dollars paid for parking at the fairgrounds. That has to be one of the more ludicrous ideas that I have heard this summer. There is no reason for why the basketball team needs an additional source of money. Now, if the basketball team is helping with parking and traffic control, that's fine. Give them $0.50 or $1 of each fee. There is NO reason why they should get over half of the money. The basketball team does a good enough job of selling tickets and other merchandise during the basketball season that they do not need additional money. Warsaw has already spent plenty of money on the basketball team (5,000-seat gym with one of the only spring-loaded floors in the state). We should not be forced to spend even more money on them. I, for one, will be watching the fireworks from a different location if at all possible. I would hope that whoever made the decision to divide the parking money as such would reconsider how that money is being used. I am sure that there are better things that the money can go to in this community.
Josh Crim
Warsaw
via e-mail
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- Warsaw Schools - WCHS Basketball
Warsaw Schools
Editor, Times-Union:It is amazing how many times this past week I have read in different newspapers and heard on the radio the amount of money Warsaw Community Schools will save if the three small elementaries are closed. The figure changes just like many things about this whole issue change. Some days we hear a savings of $300,000, a conservative estimate, to $688,000, a totally unbelievable figure. What I would like to see is how much this whole proposal will cost us. Where are the figures on the other side of the equation? How much will it cost to bus these children into Warsaw and how much will it cost to refurbish the portables they will be bused to? How much are the utilities for these added spaces? Why can't we get the real figures on both sides so that an educated decision could be made if it is truly prudent to move ahead with this closing plan? It is my understanding that most if not all of the staff at all three elementaries have been guaranteed their positions, including the principals, so what kind of savings do we really have? I do not see savings in the general fund that we so desperately need (according to the financial department) if all of the staff is retained, their salaries and benefits will remain and those come from the general fund.
Another question that comes to mind is, do the parents of the other elementaries realize that all of the students from the elementaries that they propose closing will be put in with their children, causing larger class sizes, over-crowded lunch rooms, etc.? I do see the need to build a new school in the Prairie Township area and I also agree that putting Silver Lake and Claypool students together in a school makes sense; it would make a nice size school for the southern part of the district, but do it in a new building in a more feasible location. Let's do it right the first time. Claypool and Silver Lake have both been promised new schools many times over - build us one. My feeling is, build a new school in the southern part of the district, build a new school in Prairie township, taking care of the truly overcrowded situation, and leave Jefferson Elementary alone for now. Quit wasting taxpayer money to hire professionals to do studies and then not listen to them.
Kathy Lokotar
Silver Lake
via e-mail
WCHS Basketball
Editor, Times-Union:I was shocked when I read in yesterday's (Monday's) paper that the boy's basketball team will be receiving two of every three dollars paid for parking at the fairgrounds. That has to be one of the more ludicrous ideas that I have heard this summer. There is no reason for why the basketball team needs an additional source of money. Now, if the basketball team is helping with parking and traffic control, that's fine. Give them $0.50 or $1 of each fee. There is NO reason why they should get over half of the money. The basketball team does a good enough job of selling tickets and other merchandise during the basketball season that they do not need additional money. Warsaw has already spent plenty of money on the basketball team (5,000-seat gym with one of the only spring-loaded floors in the state). We should not be forced to spend even more money on them. I, for one, will be watching the fireworks from a different location if at all possible. I would hope that whoever made the decision to divide the parking money as such would reconsider how that money is being used. I am sure that there are better things that the money can go to in this community.
Josh Crim
Warsaw
via e-mail
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