The Racine Unified School Board voted Monday to borrow nearly $6 million to move its central office to the former Surgitek campus at 3037 Mount Pleasant St. After voting 4-3 last month to approve the move, the board voted 7-2 in favor of borrowing the money to pay for the move. The move is expected to generate $19 million in savings for the school district over the next 20 years.
Here's the JT story on last night's meeting.
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Hopefully the voters remember the board members that did this in the middle of high unemployment and people losing their homes. Talk about an out of touch tone deaf board.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course they bought it with a contingency on the sale of the old building - right?? Oh, that's right they can always have a referendum for more money. They are as we know, RUSD - union teachers, poor results, high truancy, and violence. Let's keep throwing more money at it!
ReplyDeleteEnough already with the union bashing. Yeah, I'm a teacher, I admit it. We are as upset about this new building purchase as anyone else! I pay property taxes, too! My son's school is a money pit(inefficient heating/windows, etc) built in the 19th century. RUSD will never convince me that this purchase will benefit children more than asbestos removal, roof repair or air without mold/allergens. Does it make you feel better to blame teachers for the actions of 9 out of touch school board members? Really? --Yes! Remember these people at election time. Hold them accountable! Be a POSITIVE advocate for children. Be proud of your choice to send your child to WHICHEVER school you deem "best." It is time for the people of Racine to quit pointing fingers at what is WRONG with public education and start wondering how WE can fix it...together. There are great things going on in MY school because parents are involved, kids are proud of their school and we have a principal who stands up to the lunacy of Central Office. I'll be the best teacher I can be for my students because that is what I expect from my son's teachers. I'm not going to go around BLAMING them because their BOSSES are idiots! It is time for you to stop blaming teachers and their union. Blame never helps anyone or anything. It's negative. It's time to roll up our sleeves and become POSITIVE advocates for our children, grandchildren and neighborhood children. If you want to learn what's REALLY going on in the classroom....come visit! I'll be the guy in the classroom with duct tape on my windows to keep out the cold, broken desks and not enough textbooks for my students. THEN you and I can sit back and talk about Central Office's new building and say "At least there are good things happening here!"
ReplyDeleteif the teachers are so upset about this new purchase then stand up and veto it!!! it is a union and they are your representatives.... teachers if you dont stand up and stop this then I want you to justify the extra expense this entails when you try to convince the students that the new referendum this spring is needed....if the board can spend this kind of money for a building not necessary as they already have one, then they obviously do not need money for repair/rebuild/rehire
ReplyDeleteOur schools are a mess - not news to anyone, I know - and I am powerless to stop this from happening. I've had nearly 30 years of experience with Unified (as a parent) and their ridiculous decisions, but this one, THIS ONE has sent me over the edge. The lie about how they will sell the Northwestern Ave. building (when indeed it is already set up apparently to donate it to the city, who will in-turn build low-income apts. on the site) and this will eventually SAVE us money? Lie. Big, fat, stinky one.
ReplyDeleteOur buildings are a wreck, our children are standing on busy streets to save a buck on buses, there aren't enough text books/lockers to go around, and our teachers get the blame for everything that goes wrong.
We approved money for renovations on some of our worst schools - where did it go? We built a state-of-the-art school, harvested all the best teachers, and it consistently gets the worst test scores in the state. Parents fight and fight to hang on to our magnet schools (constantly threatened with closing) but yet those are the schools that get the best scores and survive on nearly no money.
Please. Someone. Tell me how to stop this madness...
I say all the district employees put up their lavish pensions as collateral if this move doesn't generate the $19 million in savings. If it does, they are fine, if not they will pay the difference.
ReplyDeleteI'll even give Unified one more chance to re-run their numbers so they can change their $19M savings estimate to the real one.
Tim Smith - it is you and your fellow teachers causing these problems too. You are taking increases in pay and benefits year after year while our taxes go up double digits and we are losing our jobs.
ReplyDeleteWe keep reducing class size making life easier for teachers and still no results. We even removed one period from the school day so you have more time to teach each subject. Still no results. We're hired assistants - still no results. Now we've bought every teacher and student a new computer and yup, still no results.
We (the taxpayers) would love to come see your classroom and what goes on, but Unified has locked us all out and prevents us from coming in. Gee - wonder what they don't want us to see going on. Call it "school security", but I call it "job security" by not allowing the public in because I would fire each one of your pathetic selves.
Timmy - The unions are a big cause of the demise of - give up the cadillac medical insurance you pay nothing for. Give up your pension and go to a 401K. There would be plenty of money free'd up to put towards the schools. So Timmy ole boy face the facts you are one of the causes. In addition RUSD scores suck - and you are part of that also.
ReplyDeleteJournal Times from Monday - did I read the article right - the owner of the Surgitek building will buy the Northwestern Avenue RUSD building for $500,00 if RUSD closes the deal on the Surgitek building - I'll buy your property - if you buy mine! What is wrong with this picture!!!!
ReplyDelete"Sirie" - You sure have an ax to grind, and add nothing of import. Get a life. The public schools have made our country great - and will continue to do so. The public schools take all children (many with challenging disabilities), and make a real effort to educate them to be productive citizens. Private schools charge big bucks, and are selective in who they accept. Viva Public Schools!
ReplyDelete9:15 - Viva the losing school district!
ReplyDeleteSirie - Viva Public Schools - where have you been? Crowded classrooms, bulling, no respect from the students to the teachers, staff, each other....and please explain why a new building for RUSD administration is going to make our schools better??? Not!!! By the way, I have a life and I would love my grandchildren to have one also.........but it won't happen in the public schools in Racine.....
ReplyDelete