According to this post from KTSM our EPISD board of non-elected managers has decided to play fast with more of our money.
In 2007 the voters in the district approved a bond issue that included almost $49 million for a new high school in the northeast. As it turns out the district has decided that it will not need the high school for now.
Rather than not spending the money it seems that the board has decided to “reallocate” it to other projects. Among the projects:
A stadium for Franklin High. Currently Franklin has to share a stadium with Coronado High. It seems to be working but some think that it is not fair to deprive Franklin. I do. If we have to spend the money why spend it on facilities that are in fact luxuries when the money could be better spent on educating our children?
A stadium for Jefferson High. Jefferson opened in 1949. Talk about deprived.
Andress High will get a 1,000 seat theater for $10 million. The Plaza Theater seats 2,500.
Irvin High will get about $17 million worth of roofs, windows, and heating and cooling. I guess maintaining systems is now a capital project.
The original bond issue was for $240 million. The $57.9 million that they have just reallocated is 24% of the original number.
Trust
I did not vote for this and neither did anyone else when they cast their bond issue ballot.
It is however not a new trick. As I recall the voters approved a new westside high school 30 or 40 years ago. The school never got built so the district used the money for other things. Eventually when the new high school was needed a new bond issue was floated and we finally got Franklin High.
What happened to the bond committee? Are they still active?
How can we trust these people when they ask for money for a set of projects and once they have it use it for other things?
Please explain to me how this board of managers is better than what we had.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Now now, lets not blame this Board of Managers. They were put in place by the State, and according to Bob Moore and Eliot Shap are far better than what was there before. All are outstanding citizens and have the full trust of the education commissioner.
They would never do anything to ruin your trust. Dee Margo said so.
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Who are you kidding Alexis..there’s no transparency with this so called BOM..THEY’RE USELESS,and taking the word of those two idiots says a lot
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They are doing plenty to ruin our trust just as the commish has lost our trust. It is totally unconscionable that they didn’t go back to the voters on how to use that money, that they are spending it on stadiums and theaters, and that they are spending it in areas other than the northeast where that money was supposed to be spent. Franklin is the most undeserving of all in my opinion and it’s just like that new pool the west side got when our older pools in non-westside areas are in disrepair. The rich get richer and the poor get the shaft!
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La Yeff has a stadium. They just cant play there because of the hospital.
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Ponce,
Are you saying that somehow the hospital has caused the school district to feel they have to build a new stadium?
Brutus
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YES, DUE TO TRAFFIC CONGESTION AROUND UMC. YOU CAN SEE THE FOOTBALL FIELD WHEN YOU DRIVE ON PAISANO.
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While I occassionally do review a number of blogs, I have never previously left a reply. However, I am making an exception in this case because this subject hits home.
Apparently Ponce should look up the definition of a stadium. A simple one would read: a place or venue for an event consisting of a field partly/completely surrounded by a structure allowing for spectators. When thinking of a football stadium, this generally includes a field, seating section, a pressbox, and a PA system as a minimum.
While Jefferson has a field, it does not have any seating to speak of, no press box, no PA system and no concession building. Brutus, you are right in your initial assessment that the Jefferson H.S. community has been “deprived”, this for the last 64 years. There are a number of persons that will tell you that the reason why Jefferson has never had a stadium was due to the fact that the hospital was directly across the street. All lies simply to continue to deprive this great community of a simple pleasure.
So instead of criticizing the decision, especially if does not affect you, let the southside community embrace it and enjoy it.
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Silver Fox, before you get your panties in a wod i would like to state that i would bet i donate more money to La Yeff’s sports teams than you do and i don’t even have a child that goes there. i have donated to the the Silva Magnet also. Coronado High School has stands only on one side of the field. I always questioned why that couldn’t be done at Jeff and I was told it had to do with the fact that the hospital could not be put in jeopardy of bad traffic. I support Jeff because two of my best friends went to high school there and one was a top state wrestler at Jeff while i have another friend whose daughter goes there. instead of wasting taxpayer money on another stadium in the area i would think you could add the stands to Jeff’s existing field along with a press box(your defintion). Maybe i’m wrong. Maybe there isn’t enough room, but i would look at that first before building a new stadium.
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Ponce, it appears that the person whose panties are in a wod are yours, Not sure why you are getting so defensive about it and then trying to justify your comments by stating how big of a supporter you are at La Jeff. If this is really the case, then embrace it. All I am trying to do is provide some information, but since you have decided to take a punch, ok, I’m game.
Ponce, only the ill informed are talking about a brand new stadium. This is not the intent. If you bothered to look at the details, the only thing that is being considered is spectator seating, a press box, a PA system and a concession stand at the existing field. But because the baseball field will be displaced, they are including money to help find a suitable location for refurbishment. No more, no less.
Now as for your other comments. You’ve lost the bet. I belong to a group that over the last 10 years has donated approx. $130K in scholarships for both graduates of Jeff and Silva Magnet. In just the last two years, my company has donated approx. $120K in product and grants to EPISD with Jefferson and Henderson being the main recipients. As for personal donations, all you need to do is ask the school’s administration and teachers and you will get your answer. I am not looking for recognition, I am simply making a point.
So if you are this big supporter of Thomas Jefferson High School like you say you are, leave your number with the principal and I will personally buy you lunch to thank you.
Once a Fox, always a Fox.
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Again the Northeast gets screwed ! There is suppose to be 4 bonds to bring EPISD schools up to par. The 2003 bond was mainly to help alleviate the growth on the west side, and then some projects through out district. The 2007 bond was to address mainly the central part of the district and northeast. When the campaign for the 2007 was under way, they specifically told Northeast residents that a new High School was to be built. Things happened that the need for a new high school is not needed. That is fine with me. My problem is that all the 56 million dollars should be spent in the Northeast as promised. There is a lot of needs in the Northeast schools. Spend all 56 million on those schools.
As far as the Bond Committee, it is only an advisory committee, the Managers can do whatever they want
Remember, 2 more bonds will come forward in the future
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I don’t see how the Northeast got screwed…… every need in the Northeast is being met. The reallocation of funds, as proposed to the Board of Managers by the Bond Committee is exactly what was passed. So 50 million gets spent in the Northeast and 6 million gets spread over the rest of the district and that is somehow unfair because?
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Or they could have just refunded it to the taxpayers…
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Again, that money was allocated for the Northeast and it should be spent in the Northeast. There are elementary schools and middle schools that could had been replaced and or do some upgrades.
As far as being unfair, there was 230 some million in the 2007 bond. Almost all monies have been spent and allocated. The only monies that were left was the 56 million for the Northeast High School.
As far as getting involved, I have been involved since the 2000 failed bond.
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I disagree Fred. The money was allocated for a SCHOOL that happened to be needed (in 2007) in the Northeast. Not “for the Northeast”. The bond was voted on and passed for EPISD, not the Northeast. There is a difference.
Apparently your involvement is lacking.
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Brutus,
you forgot to mention that Irvin is also getting a TSTEM magnet school with an 8 million dollar building to go along with it. Many Elementary Schools will get the multi-purpose classrooms they were promised in 2003. Chapin is also getting a new field house that cost a lot more than either stadium.
I would simply ask all the people that bellyache about this reallocation, how many Bond Committee meetings did you attend? They are open-forum. I attended plenty. Guess where the reallocation of the bond money came from? It came from the Bond Committee, not the Board of Managers.
If you live in the Northeast (I grew up there and went to Irvin) and you still think that ALL the money that was reallocated should stay in the Northeast, then think about when this bond was approved and where the votes to approve it came from. The Northeast voted it down! Westside voter turnout passed it. Don’t like it? GET INVOLVED!
The fact of the matter is there is no need for a new high school in the Northeast for at least another 15 years when both Irvin and Andress are at 50-70% of capacity and will be for the next 20 years.
So why then is it a bad thing that a committee, made up of voting citizens, appointed by the Board of Trustees, reallocated the funds from an unnecessary school in order to better the campuses already in use and in need of capital improvement?
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What bothers me in the first place is, “Why was the high school for NE El Paso put on the bond election in the first place?” If we knew that we would not have a need for a new school for many years to come, I don’t see the rationale for placing the $49 million for a new high school in the bond election, unless, of course, the school district was already planning to reallocate that money for different needs throughout the district. Why else would an unnecessary school appear in the bond election?
I wish we would just have transparency so we citizens truly know what we are voting for. Don’t hide the true agenda, folks.
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Once again, quick to criticize without first ensuring the details. In 2008, the Hunt group pulled out of a plan to build a major housing development that was to support not only local growth, but also military families moving into the city as part of the buildup at Ft. Bliss. To make matters worse, the military population was overestimated and the military had no choice but to build additional housing on base to handle the population that did come.
EPISD planned well for this but did not anticipate the economy turning south.
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Silver Fox wrote: “EPISD planned well for this but did not anticipate the economy turning south.”
Huh?
The reality is that local leaders drank their own kool-aid and refused to acknowledge that much of the El Paso growth in recent years, while the rest of the country was suffering, was artificial, project-driven growth associated with military and government spending. That type of growth was clearly unsustainable. The local downturn, while other parts of the country were cycling back up, was to be expected. That’s poor planning.
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Silver Fox is correct, I remember the talks between Ft. Bliss, City and EPISD back then. After the bond passed things went south.
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The dispute between Ponce and Silver Fox as to who donates the most money sounds like the kind of thing Woody and Paul would argue about over cigars and glasses of brandy, while wearing their velvet and silk smoking jackets.
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Let’s give them both a shiny silver fox medal! But seriously, I believe a lot of light has been shed on the issue thanks to them .. soooo… proceed with the ceremonies.
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Let the record reflect that I did not take the first punch. Whatever support these schools get is great and very much needed. I am just glad that I am in a position to be able to help. Wish more people would.
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wrong. You took the first punch when you made your smart ass comment about looking up the definition of a “stadium”. I had just stated what I knew about the traffic and that’s why they wont let Jeff use the “field” for games. I guess I left out putting up stands and press box since they wouldn’t let them use the field in the first place. From Paisano the field actually looks very nice and I don’t see it as a traffic problem. As far as donating ? yes, you are in a Alumni group and have donated more than me. You win. However, none of my kids go to Jeff and I have always donated when asked due to my friends. However, after the EPISD scandal i have since refused and that goes for all schools.
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Ponce, obviously I hit a sore subject with you. But let us look at your remark, “after the EPISD scandal, I have since refused…”. How sad because regardless of what the adults do, I am there for the kids. You should consider that.
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