Durfee and Jaeckle fight bloated and mismanaged public schools

The Chesterfield Observer had these nuggets this week...

Citing concerns about the cost of debt service, Matoaca Supervisor Marleen Durfee and Bermuda Supervisor Dorothy Jaeckle last week cautioned against some items in the capital improvements plan (CIP) for Chesterfield County Public Schools (CCPS).

It looks like TWO Taxpayer Hero Awards are in order...

Durfee continued to focus on whether additional classroom space is needed when overcrowding can be remedied by redistricting. While Robious Middle is over capacity, there are vacant seats in adjacent districts at Providence and Midlothian middle schools.

Durfee hits it on the head

“We should not only consider deferring some projects but not having some projects,”

They went on to list the poor choices

• $13 M to Midlothian High with new gym, larger band room, and more office space
• $5.8M to Watkins Elementary 150 more seats, office renovations, and a new bus loop
• $9 M Clover Hill High HVAC replacement project

Remember that old Clover Hill is closing?  Nice!

“Is fixing [the HVAC at Clover Hill] and having the school sit empty for a year a wise use of [taxpayers’] money?” asked Durfee.

The Taxpayer has already covered the expensive technology plan; but, it is nice to see that these two supervisors ask the tough questions... They must know The Taxpayer

The supervisors also questioned whether the school system should spend $12.3 million on new technology upgrades over the next five years, asking whether CCPS can afford to keep up in today’s economic times.

Unfortunately, it appears the bloaters were hard at work.  First up Wyman.

“We have to maintain our competitiveness in technology... perhaps at the expense of something else.”

Then Rajah

“We’re stripping our kids of the opportunity to improve their horizons.  That’s going down a dangerous road…if kids fall behind in technology.”

The Taxpayer knows plenty of kids that can dance technological circles around their grown-up counterparts without spending $12.3M that should be returned to the private sector.  We know technology is fine; when there are jobs in the private sector to use them in.  Look at this fancy quote from Sunny Reed, VP of Friends of the CC Public Libraries.

“There are a lot of kids who don’t own computers and use the computers at the library to work on school projects. If you limit the amount of time the libraries are open, you limit students’ access to computers and other resources. That creates an uneven playing field,”

A noble organization with a noble cause; however, how many kids do you see playing games on those library computers?  So now they cannot PLAY GAMES on Thursdays.  Time are tough in Chesterfield.  Keep those scissors at the ready.