Report of weekly events (14-21 May)
Post 24 gives a report of my activities for the week primarily concerning events and time spent on school matters. This post will have some of the meat of what took place in those events.
The high school tour on Thursday was designed to inform the Board of Commissioners of the condition of the schools and why our submitted budget request contained funds for repair and upkeep. The commissioners had their eyes opened as to the disrepair and condition our high schools have become. I had already been to Northwood and did not accompany the tour over there.
What was seen in both Chatham Central and Jordan Matthews was a lack of housekeeping pretty generally throughout. In many cases classrooms were filthy, had an abundance of materials which appeared to be junk or trash and floors which had missing and broken tiles. There were many instances of broken and otherwise unserviceable pieces of equipment, doors and windows. Chatham Central’s water supply is due for replacement but the drinking water this year is unpalatable and discolored.
In Jordan Matthews the girl’s shower stalls needed a good scrubbing, the floor drains were rusted and closed for the most part and the curbing was broken loose providing a tripping hazard as well as a place for mold and crud to accumulate. A number of the classrooms were as described above, concrete was broken outside, water drains down walls from air conditioning units, the fence around the football field has been down since last fall, ad nauseum.
In most of the restrooms in both schools, the odor of urine was strong albeit there was a claim they had just been disinfected.
I could go on but the picture is painted. We simply do a poor job of taking care of what we already own. The fault lies with a lack of attention to such health and safety issues then a lack of funds properly applied to maintenance in my opinion. Two commisioners I have spoken with agree with my assessment and the other two on the tour haven’t said anything to me about the condition yet. Perhaps they will as the budget comes up for their review and that they will approve line item funds to clean up our mess. I would hope the maintenance and housekeeping departments heed what we saw. Those situations are not new and they are not hidden! Maybe it is time we look at outsourcing housekeeping if we could find an organization big enough to take the chore on.
Later on the 17th I participated in a discussion of education with Simon King, Principal of Woods Charter School and Ann Hart, our Superintendent, with the Conservative Voice organization as sponsors. During a follow on question and answer period, Norman Clark also participated. All in all, I thought the comments were candid and the questions showed a great deal of thought. Our answers hopefully satisfied the questioners. A retired Professor from George Washington University, Mickey East, was the moderator and kept the comments and questions focused on Chatham education.
Yesterday (21 May) I attended the Board of Commissioners’ workshop session as the assigned liaison between the two boards. The major point which affected the schools was a lively discussion about the Commissioners’ Capital Improvement Plan. This is the document which sets out all of the county’s infrastructure needs for the next five years. It is also the planning document which gives rise to when and how much money will be available to fund those needs.
Commissioner Lucier offered an idea of approving $13 Million for Northwood’s improvements and pegging the cost for a new high school at $36 Million. He had researched adjoining counties and found others were building similar size high schools for $34 Million. There is NO change to the funding stream we have discussed at length, only an idea which the County Finance Officer is to explore with the lending institution to see if we can change from the $44 Million already indicated for the new high school.
IT IS EMPHASIZED THERE IS NO CHANGE IN THE ALREADY ANNOUNCED PLANS AT THIS TIME. I capitalize and shout for emphasis because rumors about this issue abound.
Gerald Totten