Post by gatordog on Oct 16, 2007 11:29:57 GMT -6
from Valley View columnist Bryan Scherer in today's Beacon.
Look toward Naperville as guide for referendum
October 16, 2007
I admire the strategies that the Naperville School District is using for a new and improved Naperville Central High School. The Naperville Sun has reported the school district is debating referendum plans that include a new high school, or renovation to the current school. But here's the part I like. They also have a plan that outlines actions should the referendum fail -- also known as a back-up plan. What a legendary idea!
The Indian Prairie School District could learn an important lesson here: Don't put all your eggs in the Brach-Brodie basket. Indian Prairie has no back-up site for its third high school. As a result, when a DuPage County jury set the price of the condemned 55 acres at $518,000 an acre, and tacked on a $2.5 million property damage fee...well let's just say Indian Prairie board members have a tough decision to make. But I'm here to help so they can stop scrambling around.
One good thing came out of this court battle; we now know the 25 acres of land the district already owns at Route 59 and 75th Street is worth $518,000 per acre or just under $13 million. I say sell it, and quick. Have an open house. If the district added that $13 million to the $124.6 million the taxpayers already approved, that's $138 million the district has to spend on its third high school.
Heck, with that kind of scratch, the district could build a state of the art Taj Mahal, staff it, and have dough left over. The school board members would all be heroes!
How about purchasing a cornfield up north by the tollway that will undoubtedly be less expensive than prime Naperville real estate, and closer to the $257,000 the district wanted to pay in the first place. The farmer is probably tired of putting around on his John Deere anyway, and if he's not, well, throw him a bone or two. He'll give. So will the churches that own sites off Eola.
Traditionally, high schools are not close together. That's why I never liked the Brach-Brodie property. A parcel up north would be away from the other two high schools and would make the boundary process simple by drawing horizontal lines through the district. Northern kids would go to the new high school, central kids would go to Waubonsie and southern families would go to Neuqua. Adjust the lines up or down to account for student population and you're done.
There also seems to be some type of rivalry between some Waubonsie and Neuqua Valley High School parents. Some parents adamantly want their kids to go to one high school verses the other. I guess it's a status symbol as one school is in Aurora and the other school has a Naperville address. I think the whole thing is quite ridiculous because both are great schools.
I say enough is enough. Stop messing around in court, enough with the attorneys and advisors, and forget tippie-toeing on eggshells every time boundaries are mentioned. It's plain and simple. If you pay taxes to Indian Prairie like I do, you not only pay dearly, but you live within a great school district. If they don't walk, your kids are picked up by a bus and dropped off at a school where the education they receive is substantially better than any other district in the state of Illinois.
bryanscher0919@my.nl.edu
Look toward Naperville as guide for referendum
October 16, 2007
I admire the strategies that the Naperville School District is using for a new and improved Naperville Central High School. The Naperville Sun has reported the school district is debating referendum plans that include a new high school, or renovation to the current school. But here's the part I like. They also have a plan that outlines actions should the referendum fail -- also known as a back-up plan. What a legendary idea!
The Indian Prairie School District could learn an important lesson here: Don't put all your eggs in the Brach-Brodie basket. Indian Prairie has no back-up site for its third high school. As a result, when a DuPage County jury set the price of the condemned 55 acres at $518,000 an acre, and tacked on a $2.5 million property damage fee...well let's just say Indian Prairie board members have a tough decision to make. But I'm here to help so they can stop scrambling around.
One good thing came out of this court battle; we now know the 25 acres of land the district already owns at Route 59 and 75th Street is worth $518,000 per acre or just under $13 million. I say sell it, and quick. Have an open house. If the district added that $13 million to the $124.6 million the taxpayers already approved, that's $138 million the district has to spend on its third high school.
Heck, with that kind of scratch, the district could build a state of the art Taj Mahal, staff it, and have dough left over. The school board members would all be heroes!
How about purchasing a cornfield up north by the tollway that will undoubtedly be less expensive than prime Naperville real estate, and closer to the $257,000 the district wanted to pay in the first place. The farmer is probably tired of putting around on his John Deere anyway, and if he's not, well, throw him a bone or two. He'll give. So will the churches that own sites off Eola.
Traditionally, high schools are not close together. That's why I never liked the Brach-Brodie property. A parcel up north would be away from the other two high schools and would make the boundary process simple by drawing horizontal lines through the district. Northern kids would go to the new high school, central kids would go to Waubonsie and southern families would go to Neuqua. Adjust the lines up or down to account for student population and you're done.
There also seems to be some type of rivalry between some Waubonsie and Neuqua Valley High School parents. Some parents adamantly want their kids to go to one high school verses the other. I guess it's a status symbol as one school is in Aurora and the other school has a Naperville address. I think the whole thing is quite ridiculous because both are great schools.
I say enough is enough. Stop messing around in court, enough with the attorneys and advisors, and forget tippie-toeing on eggshells every time boundaries are mentioned. It's plain and simple. If you pay taxes to Indian Prairie like I do, you not only pay dearly, but you live within a great school district. If they don't walk, your kids are picked up by a bus and dropped off at a school where the education they receive is substantially better than any other district in the state of Illinois.
bryanscher0919@my.nl.edu
