Practically Speaking

Kyle, you have made a very strong argument for a YES vote.

This referendum is not about fluff or wants, but repairing the basic flaws of some very old buildings.  Yes, HVAC is expensive, but a pay-back will come by reduced energy costs using much more efficient modern systems.

SO....we can follow your path, and decrease the operating budget by multimillion dollar amounts each year to do long term repairs.  This will translate directly into program reductions.  Or, we can work as the system is designed, do capital improvements with a levy, reduce operating costs and preserve programs in times of challenging budgets.

The choice is clear.

Kyle's reply: Where do I start? Very old buildings? There are buildings older than ours in the Milwaukee/Waukesha area that still use their original steam boiler systems. The difference is they have been well maintained and have new efficient burners installed. Some of those old systems can be very efficient compared to the modular type high efficiency boilers that take 15 years to pay back but only have a life expectancy of 15 years.

True, the oldest part of Central is 53 years old and East is 47years old (nothing compared to Shorewood, Marquette, Pius, etc), but the later additions on our high schools are only 30 to 33 years old. Why replace the heating system there? (Because they want air conditioning.)  Maintain, yes. Replace, no.

Elmbrook has two reputations in the greater Milwaukee area: we do a good job educating our students but a very poor job maintaining our buildings. The administration does not see maintenance as a priority and sets the budgets accordingly. $1million a year for all capital improvement projects is pitiful. And to see the administration make comments like, we do the best we can within budget constraints rings rather hollow when we end up the year with $1 million or more in surpluses. Last year we ended with $3.5mil surplus.

We can do better! 

PS. I do not believe we need to do all these things at once, and even if I did, I would not couple truly necessary mechanical improvements with the 2 biggest wants: Air conditioning--used for what, 7 days a year?--and gyms--used for team sports primarily in just the winter months. Sept. and Oct. are football season and April and May start baseball and soccer. These are outside. (Gym classes have survived even during times of much higher enrollments.)

Hello Kyle:

I received a :cc from both Tom and Glen when they sent you their responses to your inquiry. Seeing that the vice-president of the Board of Education had answered your question quite clearly within moments of your sending it, other inquiries became my priorities. Seeing later than Glen, who had attending nearly every HSST meeting had further answered your inquiry with a similar response, I loved onto other matters. For some reason, you make a point of indicating publicly that I had not responded. Thank you for your question, which has been promptly responded to by two Board members, one of which is an officer of the district governing body. If you had cc'd it to ten people, would you be disatisfied until all ten had sent a personal response? It clearly was taken care of.

Kyle's response: That was not the intent of my mentioning it. I thought the public might feel a little more confident that the answer was considered accurate by the school district, if the answer was given by an official from the administration (rather than a board member). That statement is not meant to be insulting to the board members. It is just that the part-time board member may not be privy to the array of information the full time administration has access to.

Since you were :cc'd with their answers, and you considered it "clearly [was] taken care of",  that information must then be considered to be the district's correct stance? I was a little unsure if Glen's $26 mil for "overall HVAC system replacement as proposed." was only for Heating Ventilating & Air Conditioning, as HVAC usually means, or if it included plumbing for sprinkler systems, bathrooms, and electrical too. But if a board member's answers are considered "official" enough, then I will just contact them.

Although Glen and Tom and I do not always agree, we respect each other and share areas of common ground. We email fairly often, and the communication is always cordial.

This comment was emailed to me directly.

"I am at MLHS [Milwaukee Lutheran High School] plenty; I serve on the Board of Directors of Northwest Lutheran school.  Funny how public schools think that money grows on trees and they can spend it on needless and wanton items. 

Having grown up in a parochial school setting and now serving on the Board at NWLS, we are faced with a lot harder decisions, such as can we afford to hire a new teacher or can we give our dedicated staff the raised they need this year, or how about just keeping the doors open (we were faced with this at NWLS a year or so ago due to declining enrollment). 

In a school system like the one I grew up in, those in charge had to be very careful stewards of their funds and their vision.  While I truly believe we need to make needed improvements and perform some costly maintenance at Central and East, I still do not think the Elmbrook school board is being very good stewards. 

While I know the dedicated volunteer panel spent a lot their own time and efforts collaborating on this proposal, I also believe that the school board did not give proper weight to their voices.  

I will be voting no, again, this time around.  Let’s address the immediate needs right now and then work on the “wish list”.  This is what we need to do in our Lutheran school system; isn’t it about time someone forces the pubic school systems to do the same? 

My wallet is not eager to be opened any wider with respect to taxes for support of a school system whose Board has no respect for spending our money for their benefit.