Is it just coincidence that the two top articles in today’s NOW Northshore edition were:
1) New ATHLETIC FIELD which has over $1,000,000 of our tax dollars going to pay for it, has Groundbreaking Ceremony this past Friday ………..
2) School District announces that we don’t have enough students to fill the schools we have (75 to 80 percent of capacity) and that it may have to CLOSE ONE OF OUR SCHOOL BUILDINGS to save money.
For some reason, I just don’t remember the need to close one of our schools coming up, when the D2D group was beseeching the Village Board for a $465,000 handout.
During his pitch to the Village Board for the tax money, Superintendent Blane McCann didn’t mention a need to close a school, but it was reported that he said --
"When I arrived as superintendent I recall this board wanting to find a way to help, wanting to find a way to contribute and alleviate some of the school district's problems and this is a perfect way for that to take place,"
Trustee Michael Phinney said $600,000 is an "appropriate investment." --- was he aware that the School District was so desperate for money that it was considering closing a school ?
Some of the questions for our elected officials that come to mind are:
WHO of our elected Village and School Board Officials, knew that our schools are in such dire straights, when they decided to spend over a $1,000,000 of our tax dollars on an athletic field ?
WHY did they keep it a secret until the Field was a Done Deal ?
Did our Elected Officials ask the Right Questions --- or didn’t they Want to Know ?
And Wouldn’t it have been nice --- if the Voters of Shorewood, knew about the schools, and were offered the opportunity to decide if their $1,000,000 in tax money should go to new dirt --- or keeping a school open ?
