consolidation info

**sup-rbeast** · September 24th, 2009, 11:33 AM

I'm not for or against it...I could care less. I'm just debating the issue to be debating the issue.

**centennialdawg** · September 24th, 2009, 11:37 AM

My post wasn't meant for you beast, but for joe morgan.

**joe morgan** · September 24th, 2009, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by imported_centennialdawg

My post wasn't meant for you beast, but for joe morgan.

You said the same thing I said, so pardon me if I don't understand your point.

**retiredteach** · September 24th, 2009, 12:05 PM

Just my gut feeling, but I am afraid that both sides will end us losing after last night's vote.

**TheBeast** · September 24th, 2009, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by imported_centennialdawg

My post wasn't meant for you beast, but for joe morgan.

I take nothing personal in it either way. I was just putting that out there for discussion. I do see with the vote by the BOS that they are going to push for renovating Coeburn, Kelly and PV and consolidating the other 3 to these 3 and then still having three 60 year old outdated pos's.

**joe morgan** · September 24th, 2009, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by TheBeast

I take nothing personal in it either way. I was just putting that out there for discussion. I do see with the vote by the BOS that they are going to push for renovating Coeburn, Kelly and PV and consolidating the other 3 to these 3 and then still having three 60 year old outdated pos's.

If they HAVE to close the smaller schools and put those students in the larger schools, then you'll have people begging for new schools to be built.

**centennialdawg** · September 24th, 2009, 12:51 PM

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!

Wise county politics at its best!!!

**starbuck** · September 24th, 2009, 01:14 PM

look at the millions that will be spent on new site development. if money is an issue then isn't the best option to build the new schools where the old ones are and then shut down 3? I know it will not be popular among the 3 towns that would lose the school but the saving on site prep would be huge. right now I don't have a horse in the race so I'm just looking at it from an outsiders view. have they ran numbers for doing something like that?

**Merlin** · September 24th, 2009, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by retiredteach

Just my gut feeling, but I am afraid that both sides will end us losing after last night's vote.

Teach, you've have hit the nail on the head. Though the Commonwealth may not physically come down to the coalfields to direct things, if they cut the schools funding by a third and tell us you can only justify two high schools, then what alternative do you have? We were told a week or so ago that the County is in a consolidation situation whether it was in new facilities or in old ones. The BOS has pretty much determined it will be in old ones. IMO, as it has been from day one, if it has to happen I would rather it be in new structures than in old run down ones that still have to be gutted and rebuilt from the ground up to meet all ADA codes and to upgrade all infrastructure as they honestly need to be. This would have been a moot point if we had been maintaining and upgrading all the high schools along as they should have been. A much more affordable renovation plan would have been possible with most or all the existing schools able to stay open and most people would have been satisfied. But, that is in the past now and we no longer have that option. I'm very disappointed in our elected/appointed officials over the past 30 years since they have dropped the ball on this issue from the get go and are continuing to do so.

On a related issue, all the people spouting out the calls for a referendum for "the people to decide", we can't legally do it and our legal counsel has been crystal clear on this. And, in effect, we have already had the referendum on this topic over the past few local elections as this is a representative form of government and we have elected people to represent our views whether they decide to abide by them or not when the "rubber hits the road" and they have to actually vote on it.

I don't pretend to know how this situation will eventually turn out, but I can just about guarantee that most people will NOT be satisfied with the outcome.

**sup-rbeast** · September 24th, 2009, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by Merlin

Teach, you've have hit the nail on the head. Though the Commonwealth may not physically come down to the coalfields to direct things, if they cut the schools funding by a third and tell us you can only justify two high schools, then what alternative do you have? We were told a week or so ago that the County is in a consolidation situation whether it was in new facilities or in old ones. The BOS has pretty much determined it will be in old ones. IMO, as it has been from day one, if it has to happen I would rather it be in new structures than in old run down ones that still have to be gutted and rebuilt from the ground up to meet all ADA codes and to upgrade all infrastructure as they honestly need to be. This would have been a moot point if we had been maintaining and upgrading all the high schools along as they should have been. A much more affordable renovation plan would have been possible with most or all the existing schools able to stay open and most people would have been satisfied. But, that is in the past now and we no longer have that option. I'm very disappointed in our elected/appointed officials over the past 30 years since they have dropped the ball on this issue from the get go and are continuing to do so.

On a related issue, all the people spouting out the calls for a referendum for "the people to decide", we can't legally do it and our legal counsel has been crystal clear on this. And, in effect, we have already had the referendum on this topic over the past few local elections as this is a representative form of government and we have elected people to represent our views whether they decide to abide by them or not when the "rubber hits the road" and they have to actually vote on it.

I don't pretend to know how this situation will eventually turn out, but I can just about guarantee that most people will NOT be satisfied with the outcome.

The state already doesn't distribute funds based on the number of schools....funding is distributed based on the number of students. More funding is given based on students that get free or reduced lunch, the number of special ed. kids, etc. The number of schools has nothing to do with the dollars the state gives the counties tho.