Consolodation?

**imported_Counts** · February 25th, 2005, 03:57 PM

That fits in with what I was thinking and how these committees usually work. I do not live in Wise County any I will not pretend to know all the issues (Honesty and trust seem to be two big ones) or have the answers BUT I don't see how the consolidation would not work out well for both Appy and StPaul (Pound might be a bit tougher due to location) from what I have heard Wise is set to retire a large number of teachers over the next 10 years and I am sure that most jobs that are lost will most likely be due to attrition(sp?) and 3 schools have to be cheaper to maintain than 6 (I had to maintain two houses at one time I know of which I speak)

If Appy or Pound or StPaul were to burn down tomorrow there would be some still dead set against Consolidation. I don't know what the right answer is (If I did they could hire me to do a study [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ) But from what I think I know it would be better for everyone involved to 1) Be open and Honest if the plan is to Consolidate let everyone know why and give them opportunity to voice there complaints and/or there Ideas 2) Do it Listening to people is great but you will never make everyone happy use what Ideas you can and make as clean a cut as would be possible

**R0cketer** · February 25th, 2005, 04:12 PM

LPD, I think the biggest source of the problem comes to this. You appoint people to represent you on the board of supervisors and school board. These people have to do what is in the best interest of their districts, but not just their district, the county as a whole. To many tend to cater to a few in their district to try to keep themselves elected in their positions. If they do their job, they are going to have to make unpopular choices and decisions. Nobody wants more taxes, nobody wants more cost, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet, especially when it comes down to less trickle down from the state. The problem here, you tell some people the facts and they dont want them. It would be wonderful if the School Board could say hey our costs are to high, its costing 50 cents more on the dollar to educate a student at Appy than it costs at PV, and change has to be made. It would be great if when people heard that they said oh, information that is truthful and honest, lets do whatevers necessary, but guess what, those numbers and facts have been stated before, in the papers, on tv, on this freaking board, and guess what, it doesnt matter. So what honesty should they have? The only "honesty" that the most vocal portion wants is hey we're not gonna ever hurt Appy, and the rest of Wise County needs to pay double to keep them up. I'm not trying to be mean or cruel because there are some good people in Appalachia or Pound as the case may be, but most of the people who are complaining the most, aren't contributing that much to the money to keep them open.

Simple fact, there is an approximate 30% decrease in the number of students in Wise County schools as of now as there was 25 years ago. You want numbers, in the 1980-1981 school year there was approximately 9800 students in the Wise School System as opposed to approximately 6800 now and nothing gets cheaper, not the ability to heat older buildings, not supplies, not salaries, insurance costs, etc etc.

Truth, lies, whatever 30% off the top. No ifs, ands or buts there.

**R0cketer** · February 25th, 2005, 04:26 PM

Truth Counts.....I think the problem is they can't handle the truth (done in my best Jack Nicholson voice)

[img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

February 25th, 2005, 04:26 PM

And what is your arguement Rocketer? I pointed to why it is not working now. You seem bent on something. I don't know what. My point is they the administration and board need to stop the lies and work with the people. When your boards no longer trust other boards and administrations, your gonna have problems. And your seeing that here.
To me it's not about what isn't wrong. It's about what is wrong and needs to be fixed.
You keep pointing out numbers. I keep saying the same thing. Yet one thing.
No room to correct or make it to where it will work. If the school administration and board and citizens groups cannot set down and come to terms. Then how do you fix the problem?
How do you not create more problems?
I know about the declines. I know i watched and read some of what went on in DC and why it was pushed.
This is about fixing it all. But that cannot happen till the people can talk.
Want the truth. Yes we can handle the truth. Want to fix the problem some need to tell the truth. That would fix a lot of the problems.

Well Merlin most of my view can be found in the minutes of the school board meetings and in newpaper articles.
I think even one was just stated a few post back. Right before the closure of a school year. There was one who recommened the consolidation of a school. Yet it i think was Mr. Franks.
This after Mr. Basham stated i think in the newpaper. There had been no talks.
Then members of the board, even admitted such talks had taken place.
Oh well some need to heed their own advice.
Like i said fix the lies. Openly admit some wrongs. Open up some channels of communications. Then work on it from there.
But that seems a fargone solution or idea.

**imported_Counts** · February 25th, 2005, 04:28 PM

Wow I knew that the numbers had droped alot but I had no idea it was by that amount....It is not fair (but probably unavodable) that some schools in a distric would get disproportanal funding Iwould cut that school budget until ask to be consoladated but I can be a cold bastard at times. I don't know what the right answer is but I do know that closeing my eyes to the problem is not it

**imported_Counts** · February 25th, 2005, 04:42 PM

When is the next School board election in Wise County?

**R0cketer** · February 25th, 2005, 04:57 PM

LPD, my point is this and simply this. You're not in an Eutopian community. What you hear or someone says to you may or may not be the truth. What you view as truth, others may view as lies. You're NEVER going to get 100% truth and you're never going to get people who have such polar opposite views to sit down and discuss and agree on this.

You say "If the school administration and board and citizens groups cannot set down and come to terms. Then how do you fix the problem?"

When you sit down and you tell them the truth and you try to discuss it and they choose not to believe it or sit there and say yes but we dont want this to happen, what do you do? All the talking, all the meetings, even if you took the groups and administration and such into a freakin church and had them meet and discuss everything, from $s and cents to mistakes made to people misleading to some people being so completely emotional that they cant make a logical decision, you would turn around 5 minutes later and some of them would have heard one thing, be accusing others of lying, etc.

There is no fix all. There is no making all happy. You can't fix this. This isn't a fix. This is like spray painting over rust. The rust is still there, its gonna be there and its gonna get worse instead of better.

Fine, Basham lied. The school board lied. Everybody associated from the top to the bottom has lied and they all admitted it. Now, how is anything fixed?? Get to the point of the issue, not this little petty things.

When does anything that is said by the people become truth? When it fits what a few want? Guess what, I'm looking at the enrollment figures right now. The numbers I said were from imformation I requested. Now if you ask certain people who don't want consolidation, they'll tell you I made them numbers up, that they aren't that bad, etc etc. In a word, they'll say I'm lying or that I'm fudging the numbers to fit my view. I assure you I got the paperwork right in front of my face, no reason to lie but if you ask them and they tell you that I'm lying, you might think I am....that doesn't make it so.

The lies suck, no question, nobody likes being lied to and if there have been lies, shame on them, but if you have been around government and administration, you know this. Not every hand thats involved knows everything. I mean good lord the popular board of supervisors story is of old Edgar Mullins and when they talked about putting a Taco Bell in and he thought it was something to do with phones. Not everybody involved knows everything that is going on and when you deal with a group of people, what one person sees as one thing, another person might see a totally different way. Maybe when Milas Frank was at meetings, consolidation wasn't discussed, who knows but I know this, anybody who hasn't got the brains to look at our area and think any and all school systems dont have to consider it or havent considered it is either has no sense, doesn't want to know or can't accept the truth. They might not be lying, they might just be that clueless.

**R0cketer** · February 25th, 2005, 05:08 PM

If truth and honesty is all that is wanted, why did they have to escort the guy out last night, where exactly had he lied to people?

If truth and honest is all that is wanted, why is it when consolidation is mentioned, any school board member or administration that does mention it is threatened or told they'll be gone ?

**Merlin** · February 25th, 2005, 05:14 PM

Hey, don't think that I fully support how the School Board and Administration has handled the situation. They definitely "dropped the ball" here and are paying a big price now for their mistake. But, unless the fighting, name calling, and finger pointing doesn't get under control right away we may not get a chance to correct the problems ourselves. If the State steps in and orders major changes to the structure of OUR school system, we must obey and say "Thank you sir, may I have another." Period. We will then have no say in the matter. The Board may have held back on publicly discussing the consolidation issue due to their desire to avoid the outcry that now exists. Some may have lied that they never discussed it (I question that as well), but it may be the truth for that individual. But, I cannot completely blame them for it. Just look at the situation that we now find ourselves. The atmosphere is poisoned to the point that an honest-to-goodness debate on the issue cannot even be attempted due to the ranting and raving of a relatively few individuals. The Board and Adminstration are afraid for their own safety at meetings (and rightfully so as I understand it), as well as, the safety of anyone who is perceived as "in cahoots" with them whether it be true or not. Certain people need to quit fanning the flames and try to be a part of the solution.

The problems our schools are facing is much larger than anyone out in the community really understands at this point. I hope the Board and Administration make a sincere effort to educate the public and make a full disclosure, if they haven't already, as to what they are actually facing and what they feel needs to be done to correct it. It would help clear the air and possibly help them in the long run. I think the public presentation of the study last night was a good start. Much more needs to be done. Right now we need to get past the he/she said or didn't say or whatever you want to call it. The state of the schools and what must be done to improve them is what we should be focusing on.