73° F
19 A 29-member Community Bond Advisory Committee gave its recommendation to the Eanes school board Monday – $98.5 million in new bonds to cover the cost of maintaining, upgrading and expanding district facilities in the near future.
Recommended expenditures included $20 million for technology and curriculum, $37.4 million for safety and operations, $27.5 million for the renovation or rebuilding of Eanes Elementary School and $13.6 million for extracurricular facilities and support.
CBAC chairman David Perkins gave his committee’s report to board members during a two- and-a-half-hour study session Monday morning. Also there with information pertinent to the district’s five-year strategic plan was demographer Steve Stewart with DeskMap Systems, Inc. Stewart said that, since 2002, total enrollment has been trending upwards in the Eanes school district. The number of in-district students increased by 192 or 2.8 percent this year. Stewart projected a continued trend of small enrollment increases during the next five years.
The school board had been looking at three possible options for the reconfiguration of elementary schools. They essentially took the third option – consolidating the district’s six elementary schools into five expanded campuses – off the table by directing Perkins not to spend more time studying demographics for that alternative. That gives board members two remaining options to investigate, either build a new elementary school on the western region of the district and eventually turn Forest Trail Elementary School into administrative offices or leave all six school campuses where they stand and rebuild Eanes Elementary School while students continue to attend classes there.
“The information from the bond committee is invaluable to us in making our decision,” said Jim Strickland, school board president. “The board will now go through a process of reviewing that information along with information we get from community forums and other sources. Over the next several months, we will use all that data to make a decision on a district bond program.”
Items included in the CBAC recommendation were Americans with Disabilities Act modifications on all campuses, new turf fields and tracks at West Ridge and Hill Country middle schools and a covered district student activity center.
While cost estimates are broken down for each campus and for general district expenditures, district Communications Director Dale Whitaker said those numbers are likely to change as research continues.
“Cost figures aren’t an exact science at this point,” she said. “We’re just using round number estimates as a starting point for discussions.”
Whitaker said the district will continue collecting information for the board to review as it determines its bond plan, including input from e-mailed comments and community forums. A copy of the CBAC report can be found at eanesisd.net/news/news-and-announcements/facility-planning-community-forums-1. Comments regarding the bond program can be sent to board members at facilitycomments@eanesisd.net. The district will hold its final community forum Thursday in the Cedar Creek Elementary School Commons from 5:30-7 p.m. Childcare will be provided in the cafeteria.
Let’s see — “covered district student activity center” is the very same $5.5 million dollar “covered football field” that we voted down in 2006 only this time it costs at least 3 times as much.
They’ve lost their minds.
Actually, it isn’t. Did you go to the forum and ask questions?
Quote: “Cost figures aren’t an exact science at this point. We’re just using round number estimates as a starting point for discussions.”
A few million here, ten million there, a hundred million in the air … party on.
They’ve lost their minds.
Open documents (blue links) #16 and #12 here:
http://www.keepeanesinformed.com/proposed_bond_-_eanes_isd.htm
To all EISD parents who aren’t concerned about the planned demolition/rebuild of Eanes Elementary:
This plan DOES affect you and your children. You will pay for the project with your tax dollars and you will live through one to two years of disruption as elementary children are relocated at several schools during project construction.
Is a complete rebuild a good idea? Those questions were asked at the EE Forum and the responses were down the line pc evasive or 35,000 feet at best.
I’m willing to pay for projects that make sense but not for vague ideas.
Do your homework, think and consider before you vote on the bonds
hmmm a 100 million dollar bond- Go Fot It! Usually when a bond is defeated the Superintendant leaves shortly after… Let her push her pie in the sky dreams and have the voters reject it with a loud NO.
Maybe then we can get someone who will lead our district not rule our district.
“Anonymous” – Exactly! And hopefully her “cabinet” (that’s how pretentious Nola Wellman refers to the administrators who report directly to her) will be booted out along with her. Bill Bechtol at $125K? Let’s hire 3 teachers instead!
So the superintendent shouldn’t have staff members? EISD shouldn’t have someone in charge of curriculum? Were none of you here for the previous two superintendents? Have you ever been to Eanes Elementary? It’s inaccessible and can’t be secured. It doesn’t meet modern educational needs. The structures are old and were built on the cheap. There are no other options besides a complete rebuild.
“Great” — maybe you should apply for a job with Nola Wellman. She would love you. Keep drinking the kool-aid.
P.S. The same board hired those “last two” superintendents and Nola Wellman. Eanes ISD spent education dollars on multiple fields of artificial turf, high definition jumbotron updates and lots of other wish-list items while the elementary school facilities were neglected. The district has been well-aware of the other needs but CHOSE to fund the wish-list. Have you studied the rise in administrators (and their salaries) since Nola Wellman began working in 2004? This district is now top-heavy in highly paid administrators while the class sizes have grown.
Have you studied the change in education in the past few years? Do you not realize that the technology needs for education today require administrators? How does the district update the elementary facilities without building a new school? The alternative to rebuilding Eanes Elementary is to do nothing. You know what keeps good teachers away? The building falling apart.
The truth is that the minds of the elementary parents shift greatly when their students get to high school. Suddenly they understand why those facilities exist when their kids start using them.
Isn’t Eanes Elementary accessible now? With several children who have attended Eanes Elementary, I seem to recall the school being worked on over the past several years to provide ADA accessibility. So, would rebuilding this perfectly decent and much loved school mean all that money already spent addressing ADA would now go to waste? Probably. To “Great”: How does Eanes Elementary not meet “modern educational needs”? My kids did just fine.
“Great” – You are hilarious. Seriously. Dude, Nola wasn’t trying to attract teachers. She wanted COACHES. That’s why she prioritizes artificial turf (three fields last count) and HD jumbotron updates over fixing the (as you say) “buildings falling apart.” (The ones that are keeping the teachers away – yeah.) Except for her building of course. It’s all fine and dandy (recently spiffed up) because the other thing she wanted to attract was ADMINISTRATORS. Because we all know that technology hinges on administrators. Anyone who has heard Bill Bechtol speak knows all about that. Yeah.
All voters should avail themselves of as much information as possible. There are many posts on these blogs by advocates of http://www.keepeanesinformed.com which clearly have a negative bias towards the superintendant and current board of trustees. They have a right to their opinions but as a reader and voter, be cautious of opinions that are presented as facts.
For example, keepeanesinformed points out as a “fact” that the increase in EISD administrative salaries is a negative to the District? But separate fact from opinion. Have admin salaries increased? Yes – that is fact. But is that a negative for EISD? In keepeanesinformed opinion, absolutely yes. For others? No. Does EISD now have strong administration in charge of curriculum? Yes. Did EISD before? No. Teachers don’t (and shouldn’t) operate on their own. They need central support just like any business needs central administration in order to distribute consistent high quality service and products and to support staff development and excellence. A business would never operate without a “cabinet” – a group of senior VPs in charge of centralized administration/divisions – and neither should a school district.
Another example: keepeanesinformed describes the District as gaming the system by using transfer students in various ways that are negative to the students of EISD. Doesn’t anyone remember 7 years ago when the parents of Eanes Elementary advertised on their own and held open houses to try to bring in transfer students to keep their low enrollment campus from the prospect of closing? That campus was thrilled to have those transfer students. Not the District – the parents on that campus.
My point – there are two very distinct opinions cited above, don’t consider either to be “facts”. Decide your own opinion by gathering as much information as possible – in addition to the posts here, please access the information EISD has provided as well. There is much to consider.
http://www.eanesisd.net/news/news-and-announcements/facility-planning
Fact: bond will increase taxes. Opinion: school taxes shouldn’t be funding a $25 million sports facility.
“Facts vs. Opinions” – The public information posted on http://www.keepeanesinformed.com is created by Eanes ISD not by the citizen site. Be cautious of those who wish to hide public information from the public. And be cautious of those who seek to silence anyone who disagrees with the district’s PR spin. It’s far easier to nod and agree with the district … unless you’ve seen harm to children as a result.
Regarding the extreme increase in the numbers and salaries of administrators, have you talked to the teachers? Does their opinion matter to you? You might find that the teachers agree with those in our community (albeit very quietly out of necessity) who believe that the this district is quite top-heavy in overpaid administrators. And quite understaffed in direct student help (teachers, teacher’s aides). Many of us do not value educrats over teachers and further believe that they are overpaid.
Those transfer students are necessary because district children are leaving Eanes ISD. And with all due respect, regarding this subject, unless you are a parent of a child that has not been well-served in Eanes ISD, you don’t have a clue. And please don’t speak for all of the parents … there are many who are not at all “thrilled” with the practice of packing classes with transfer students. And yes, Eanes ISD games the system by failing to meet the needs of certain populations of children and then cherry-picking the easiest ones from other districts to replace them (so that Eanes can take the credit for their excellence). That’s a fact. And it’s the opinion of some that gaming the system at the expense of children is wrong. You may like the outcome of this practice and perhaps you don’t care about the children and families who are harmed in the process. However, others in this community do care and that’s why we speak out. Because the children who are not well-served and the teachers are too often undervalued … often do not have a voice in this district.
http://www.keepeanesinformed.com/proposed_bond_-_eanes_isd.htm
Eanes taxpayers can access information about the public schools in a variety of ways if they so choose. We may ask questions informally and if the answers are not forthcoming, formalize the process by filing a request for public information. Any individual can visit the district’s website at http://www.eanesisd.net where information is posted by the director of communications and other paid employees. Taxpayers may also access information on http://www.keepeanesinformed.com. This site posts actual documentation held by our public school to support the facts and community concerns. It would be great if the district would choose to post the actual documentation to substantiate their positions rather than spending money on legal counsel to withhold the information from the public. Community members have asked district leadership repeatedly for access to a variety of fact based documentation. The failure to produce any documentation relating to EEF donations and expenditures is worrisome. Recent community forums offered general information but no cold hard facts, and certainly nothing via written proposals for the voters to review. The bond committee meetings should have been widely publicized by our district leadership prior to the open forums. Why weren’t they? The obvious lack of transparency has done nothing but undermine the credibility of our school board and paid administrative staff, and divide our community. Now that’s a fact; and unfortunate and unnecessary fact. We can continue to bury our head in the sand, or we can do our homework and work towards improvement.
The problem is not the $99MM bond per se. The issue is that EISD is adding ongoing expense to its operating budget with these silly “want to haves” that will, in the future, continue to eat away at the tax dollars it has to fund education. A natatorium has to be maintained; it will need clorine and cleaning and repairs. A sports complex has to be maintained. It will need to be staffed. It will need to be heated and cooled. Our trustees love to talk about “bond money is not operating money” and I hear frequently that I don’t “need to worry about that affecting education–it’s being paid for out of bond money.” But that ignores the reality that in the long term, we must pay for operating these new facilities. And just like the $600,000 cameras need maintenance, so will all these new facilities. And then EISD will say “EEF, we need you to fund more teachers, because after we pay our operations cost, we don’t have enough left for a decent parent student ratio.” Get real, Trustees. Buildings and facilities and equipment add to operating costs. We don’t need more plumbers and janitors and heating bills: we need teachers.
with the above poster’s concern about maintenance and operating expenses. Look, if we didn’t have the recapture problem, all these extras would be great, but my kids are going to schools in very big classes because “we can’t afford” more teachers. Every time I turn around I’m getting hit up for donations. I’m very glad to give to support instruction, but not if money in the general budget is going to support all these extras.
I agree with commenter 17. Operating costs are to be considered. And they are real world expenses for any school or school district.
Yen-Hong at Tutoring By Tran