Tim Holt over at holtthink.tumblr.com frequently points us to thought provoking articles about education.
Those of us that are parents and grandparents might do well to consider some of them.
Recently he published Is memory needed in a digital age?
You can read his blog here or by clicking the More Blogs button at the top of this page.
Brutus
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Posted by Brutus
I am really happy to report that the previous reports about Lucy’s coffee shop downtown having been closed were wrong.
Click over to elchuqueno.com to see the story.
A previous post on the blog had shown a picture of the coffee shop with a large sign that indicated that they were closed. I too took that to mean that they were out of business.
Fear is a powerful emotion and in this case led us to the wrong conclusion.
This makes things better.
Brutus
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Posted by Brutus
I just don’t see how I can vote for a bond issue when the organization publishes a notice like this one:
I’m not against investing in our schools. The notice however tells us that we are not voting for a specific list of projects. Instead we are voting to give the school board money that they can spend any way they want.
We deserve better
Brutus
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Posted by Brutus
Looking at the Ysleta Independent School District $451 million bond issue material that the district has on it’s web site I am surprised to see the amount of maintenance expenses they are asking to be funded.
This link should take you to the plan for Bel Air high school.
It seems that they want to spend $12.6 million to repair the school. An example is the $286,000 that they want to repaint the walls in the main building. In fact it looks like the entire $12.6 million is to be spent on things that should be on a pay as we go basis.
Good grief. The next thing we know they will be taking out a loan to buy breakfast.
We deserve better
Brutus
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Posted by Brutus
Is it a surprise to any of us that our chamber of commerce has come out in support of the Ysleta Independent School District $451 million bond issue?
The chamber represents businesses. Architects, engineers, construction companies, building material suppliers are members of the chamber and will benefit from the spending.
YISD tells us that they are facing declining enrollment. They also have a lot of maintenance issues that they have not been addressing on a year to year basis.
It makes sense that schools need to modernize to educate students in this 21st century.
What does not make sense to me is that all of this needs to be undertaken as a single $451 million investment. As we have seen at the city they will have a hard time managing all of this at once.
Why not break this down into smaller segments so that they can show us that they can handle projects effectively? Why ask for all of the money up front? I’m afraid we all know why.
Voters in the Ysleta district should pay particular attention to this statement found on the district’s web site:
All dollar amounts are preliminary estimates and such estimates and the projects themselves are subject to change. Inclusion of a specific project in the Facilities Master Plan is the Board’s current intention to implement such project but actual use of any voter-approved bond funds will be determined by subsequent action of the Board of Trustees.
Trust me, I’m with the government.
We deserve better
Brutus
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