Cost of pensions found soaring for R.I. communities

Sick of it wrote:

At what cost? Can we afford it NOW? Are the dollars best spent for a middle school for the "promised" kids NOW?

wondering wrote:

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I think you could get access to 321 for WLMS without costing a lot of money. When you are comparing your options to a $20 million dollar new school a lot of things are going to cost a lot less. I have not heard that the K8 schools are going to ever be overcrowded. You have anything to back that up?
I do care about kids, I have some of my own. Your attitude is what is wrong in this county. You assume I do not care about kids because I do not want to throw a lot of money at the schools. I would rather save that money and be able to pay for things that really matter like teachers. The building is not nearly as important as the teacher.

twelfth man wrote:

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Maybe what is wrong with this county is that we really have no idea what the School Board and County Commissioners are doing about this issue. Lack of knowledge about a problem issue makes us easy targets for each other.
Teachers are more important than buildings. Our one post, from a former WLMS teacher, seems to confirm the limitations and dangers of the current school. If you know a teacher...ask them! How much does the school layout, equipment and security effect your productivity?
In checking things out, I heard the story about the teacher who taught at a school whose capacity increased from the re-districting of WLMS several years ago. This re-districting was the last thing the School Board did toward this problem. It caused the EXPENSE of hiring more teachers at that school. Then, this teacher became a WLMS teacher. They expressed disbelief of the quality of the structure and equipment compared to the quality of their former school.
For us, who are at WLMS, the disbelief is this: Over 10 years ago the School Board bought the property, and communicated to the public that a new middle school for WLM was Priority #1 construction issue.
Also,$20Mil??? From what I have seen, the School Board sent members to a new middle school costing $14Mil. They have some $8Mil in their construction coffers.
(Which was more than $8Mil before they had to come up with matching funding for the Early College ***They say they didn't use the middle school money; but what they don't tell you is that the coffer money had no earmark name on it...so...what was all that money for, before they had to come up with matching funding???
You judge.)
The County Commissioners approved up to $5Mil in loans for construction, currently.$8Mil +$5Mil =$13Mil The School Board receives something like $2Mil each year from the State for construction purposes.
$13Mil +$2Mil +$2Mil ++++= "Should have been able to build this new school long before this recession.
They did, however, find the way to build two new elementary (southern end), and the Early College (High School) during the last recession.
"Wonder" on that a little before you judge what's wrong with this county.

numbers wrote:

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$20 million is the number the school board has been using......
The school system only put about $800k in the early college.....

Just a thought wrote:

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Not even close to true. Caldwell County borrowed the money to build the early college. It wasnt as much as a new middle school but about half sounds right.

Shelley wrote:

...not like its going to get any cheaper if they wait. Kids deserve to be a high priority. When they aren't, they know it, and it does hurt them.

Cost too much wrote:

With so many people out of work in the county, who is going to pay for this lavish expense. Fancy schools do not make the students any smarter.

Oak Hill wrote:

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I would have to disagree; on the smaller school you learn more. The reason I say this, is that I attended Oak Hill k-8. My education level is not as high as if I went to a larger middle school. You had the same teacher all day long, that was piss poor at their job. With the exceptions of a few; grade 6th Mr. Bynum, grade 4th Mrs. Hollar, my 5th grade teacher, bless her heart, but I cannot remember her name, but anyway, there was not an opportunity to switch class for different subjects, and have another teacher that could help you. If this teacher were not familiar with the subject, they would take the books away, and only teach what they knew. For an example, I had this same teacher for grades 2nd 3rd and then 7th and then filled in 8th. Now I am paying for the lack of education. Last I heard she became a principle at Davenport. Thank you misses Janes, OR NOW Mrs. Ayers for the entire headache. How I wished I were able to go to a middle school, have different teachers, more sports to play, more opportunity for advancement, like AG, anything but what I had. I will not send my children to Oak Hill or any small school. A small school equals small funding, which equals poor education. You get what you pay for. You know I never had algebra until High School, never saw any of this, any never had the core class, how was I even able to enter High School when I was never taught the basic principles of math? She even took the spelling books away, history books, how I could go on, but from what my classmates and I were taught, we was not even ready for High School, struggled allot, and still struggle today, Where as the other children, that enter High School from a middle School, was doing just fine, the difference in advancements was two folds, Fortunally, I never failed a grade, and never below a C average, but I owe what little education I do have to Hibriten High, THANK YOU! Not to a small school such as Oak Hill.