[Vision2020] 1912 Levy Issues

[Melynda Huskey]

Dear Visionaries,

Janice Willard has shared a considerable amount of personal information 
about her children's challenges here on the list, and I certainly sympathize 
with her family in their struggles.  But I have to wonder how germane they 
are to the topic of the upcoming levy.  It's not as if there's a pool of 
money out there that we can choose to spend any way we wish, and for 
inexplicable reasons the district has decided to fritter it away on new 
buildings and renovations instead of textbooks and special ed teachers, or 
on highway bridges and affordable housing.  The issues are entirely 
separate.

Our schools--in particular the two elementary schools included in the bond, 
Russell School and West Park--are in dire need of attention.  We've chosen 
not to attend to them as fully as they needed for many, many years.  Now 
we're faced with a difficult, even painful decision.  Do we provide adequate 
facilities for our elementary school students, facilities which meet state 
and Federal guidelines for school safety and accessibility, facilities which 
provide, say, wiring for the computers which are no longer optional (state 
testing requirements alone drive that need!), which have adequate room for 
the kind of learning we want our kids to have?  Or do we wait for a levy 
which suits us better than the current proposal, hoping that we'll muster 
the political will to bring in a new levy after some years of a drop in 
property tax bills?

I have been deeply frustrated by the facilities process, which I believe has 
been less than effective, if not counterproductive.  The timing is less than 
ideal.  The proposal on the table is not my dream proposal.  I have a 
profound emotional attachment to the notion of a downtown high school.  When 
I hear "big new high school on the outskirts of town," I think Columbine, 
frankly, and my parental heart panics.  I'm not crazy about a four-year high 
school or a 6-8 middle school.  I want bigger libraries and music 
facilities, and I don't give a damn about the state of the playing fields or 
the locker-rooms.

But I also recognize that the task of the district is not to make Melynda 
Huskey perfectly happy or to meet her every need.  While I'd like to believe 
that the sheer force and bravura of my massive intellect makes me an expert 
on every subject just because I've turned my attention to it--that's not the 
case (as I'm sure you've noticed).  I don't believe that the District has 
anything to gain from pushing a bad levy, and I don't think they'd do it.  I 
think this is the best proposal they've got, and it behooves me to think it 
over very carefully, taking my personal preferences out of the equation 
where I can see that they are only my preferences and not moral imperatives.

I don't know how I'll vote.  I'm still thinking.  But I want to be sure I'm 
thinking clearly before I decide.

Melynda Huskey