Post by sushi on Mar 21, 2008 6:18:50 GMT -6
'Our standards won't be lowered'
NSFOC members say safety, distance are main concerns
March 21, 2008
By Tim Waldorf twaldorf@scn1.com
Neighborhood Schools for Our Children cannot be characterized as a handful of disgruntled Tall Grass and White Eagle residents who hate Waubonsie Valley High School, its leaders say.
In an interview Thursday with The Sun, NSFOC leaders said the group's 300 financial supporters and 3,000 registered Web site users are more than that.
NSFOC, which has filed for not-for-profit status with the secretary of state's office, was born from a core team of about a dozen concerned Fry Elementary School parents after District 204 announced new attendance boundaries that would come with the building of a third high school.
Those boundaries would send students in the Fry area to Waubonsie, which is about 8 miles north of their neighborhood. Neuqua Valley High School, which Fry students would have otherwise attended, is but a mile and a half away.
Distance, divisions
The original proposed location for Metea Valley High School was at 75th Street and Route 59 on the Brach-Brodie property. It would have been about 3 1/2 miles from the Fry attendance area. The high school at that location was approved under a referendum, which many NSFOC members supported.
"I never thought that my kids would go to Neuqua," said NSFOC member Jim Walker. "My oldest is a kindergartner ... and I was perfectly fine with Metea. I talked to people in White Eagle about it, and we were excited about it. I was excited about opening a new school."
After a jury ruled the Brach-Brodie property would cost the district $31 million, officials chose to build Metea on an 87-acre site at Eola and Molitor roads, and with that decision new attendance boundaries were drawn.
Now, Walker is not only concerned about the distance to Waubonsie, but the divisions of middle schools in the area, such as Scullen and Still.
"They're going to have all of their friends from middle school, and then, when it comes to ninth grade, they'll be taken out, and all of their friends are gone," Walker said.
NSFOC has filed lawsuit demanding District 204 build Metea at Brach-Brodie as promised.
Safety first
In the month since it formed, NSFOC's concerns have expanded to environmental safety issues, member Julie Okon said.
Three high-pressure natural gas pipelines run through the Eola property, and high-voltage power lines that emit varying levels of electromagnetic radiation border it to the north and east. Until a year ago, a peaker power plant operated on 17 acres of the site.
District 204 commissioned an environmental study of that area, but results have yet to be released.
"You have to realize that, when they did their site selection, they ruled this site out," Okon said. "Nothing has changed on that property to make it safe today."
NSFOC member Jasmine Grassi also emphasized that point.
"The site was rejected originally because of environmental concerns. We're simply agreeing with what the school board had said initially. They may have lowered their standards in the second go-around, but we haven't lowered ours."
Critics of the group are quick to point out that NSFOC wasn't worried about environmental safety until new boundaries sent their children to Waubonsie.
Opponents also have noted that high-voltage power lines pass through some NSFOC members' neighborhoods, including Tall Grass and its clubhouse and swimming pool.
But Walker said there's a big difference between choosing to swim in the pool next to these lines just a few hours a day and a few months out of the year, and being forced to spend eight or nine hours a day, 200 or so days a year at a school next to them.
"Where somebody lives is where somebody chooses to live," Walker said. "Where somebody goes to school is where the school district builds a school."
Bait and switch
Also within NSFOC are those who want the school board held accountable for actions that turned a 58-42 percent defeat in 2005 into a 58-42 percent victory in 2006.
"The referendum failed the first time. Then some sort of firm was hired, and some sort of marketing campaign conducted, in order to sway the voters," said Grassi, stressing that the effort targeted Tall Grass and White Eagle residents under the implication their children would attend the new school on the Brach-Brodie property. "The referendum with the school on 75th and Route 59 succeeded. Then the situation drastically changed. So, if things didn't work out that way - the way that that vote was created - we need a new vote."
Shawn Collins, NSFOC's attorney, questioned whether voters can now believe anything the district says.
"This is the same gang that told us they were going to buy Brach-Brodie if the referendum passed," Collins said. "They broke that promise.
"These are the guys who said, 'Eola-Molitor is too dangerous. We won't buy it.' They broke that promise.
"These are also the guys that said, 'We're confident we're going to win the condemnation case,' and they got their heads handed to them. Everything that's important that has come out of their mouths has not been correct," he said.
Dollars and cents
There are others who are worried about the bottom line, Collins said.
NSFOC is but one of two lawsuits District 204 is now facing. The Brach-Brodie trust is expected to seek damages in excess of $20 million for the district's decision to abandon its condemnation suit, and not buy the remaining 55-acre portion of the property it originally selected for the jury-determined price of $31 million.
"Why wouldn't a responsible organization say, 'You know what? Time out. We don't know what Eola-Molitor costs right now. Until Judge Killander in DuPage County in the condemnation case says what the Brach-Brodie owners are really entitled to, we can't really tell you what the real cost of Eola-Molitor is, and we better stop until a court gives that decision,'" Collins said.
"... If a court gives Brach-Brodie everything that they wanted, just the simple math says that Eola-Molitor will be significantly more expensive than Brach-Brodie," he added. "... And then, when you factor in the environmental questions, which are never going to be favorably solved, you've gotta ask yourself what is wrong with these people? What are they thinking about?"
Too late?
While many have been quick to assign sinister motives to NSFOC's work, Collins was comfortable doing the same with regard to District 204. He called the district a "ready, shoot, aim operation" driven by a "false deadline" of August 2009, and said it was rushing "headlong into digging dirt and pouring concrete at Eola-Molitor" because it wants to end discussion on the whole matter.
"What they want to be able to say is ... 'It's too late. Stop asking us questions. Stop questioning what we've done. The money has been spent. It is gone. Get in line, or be quiet. There's nothing more we can do. The decision has been made,'" Collins said.
Grassi insisted that NSFOC exists to keep this from happening.
"We demand those answers for safety, fiscal responsibility and accountability," she said. "And, until those are answered, we don't know how the board can move ahead."
NSFOC members say safety, distance are main concerns
March 21, 2008
By Tim Waldorf twaldorf@scn1.com
Neighborhood Schools for Our Children cannot be characterized as a handful of disgruntled Tall Grass and White Eagle residents who hate Waubonsie Valley High School, its leaders say.
In an interview Thursday with The Sun, NSFOC leaders said the group's 300 financial supporters and 3,000 registered Web site users are more than that.
NSFOC, which has filed for not-for-profit status with the secretary of state's office, was born from a core team of about a dozen concerned Fry Elementary School parents after District 204 announced new attendance boundaries that would come with the building of a third high school.
Those boundaries would send students in the Fry area to Waubonsie, which is about 8 miles north of their neighborhood. Neuqua Valley High School, which Fry students would have otherwise attended, is but a mile and a half away.
Distance, divisions
The original proposed location for Metea Valley High School was at 75th Street and Route 59 on the Brach-Brodie property. It would have been about 3 1/2 miles from the Fry attendance area. The high school at that location was approved under a referendum, which many NSFOC members supported.
"I never thought that my kids would go to Neuqua," said NSFOC member Jim Walker. "My oldest is a kindergartner ... and I was perfectly fine with Metea. I talked to people in White Eagle about it, and we were excited about it. I was excited about opening a new school."
After a jury ruled the Brach-Brodie property would cost the district $31 million, officials chose to build Metea on an 87-acre site at Eola and Molitor roads, and with that decision new attendance boundaries were drawn.
Now, Walker is not only concerned about the distance to Waubonsie, but the divisions of middle schools in the area, such as Scullen and Still.
"They're going to have all of their friends from middle school, and then, when it comes to ninth grade, they'll be taken out, and all of their friends are gone," Walker said.
NSFOC has filed lawsuit demanding District 204 build Metea at Brach-Brodie as promised.
Safety first
In the month since it formed, NSFOC's concerns have expanded to environmental safety issues, member Julie Okon said.
Three high-pressure natural gas pipelines run through the Eola property, and high-voltage power lines that emit varying levels of electromagnetic radiation border it to the north and east. Until a year ago, a peaker power plant operated on 17 acres of the site.
District 204 commissioned an environmental study of that area, but results have yet to be released.
"You have to realize that, when they did their site selection, they ruled this site out," Okon said. "Nothing has changed on that property to make it safe today."
NSFOC member Jasmine Grassi also emphasized that point.
"The site was rejected originally because of environmental concerns. We're simply agreeing with what the school board had said initially. They may have lowered their standards in the second go-around, but we haven't lowered ours."
Critics of the group are quick to point out that NSFOC wasn't worried about environmental safety until new boundaries sent their children to Waubonsie.
Opponents also have noted that high-voltage power lines pass through some NSFOC members' neighborhoods, including Tall Grass and its clubhouse and swimming pool.
But Walker said there's a big difference between choosing to swim in the pool next to these lines just a few hours a day and a few months out of the year, and being forced to spend eight or nine hours a day, 200 or so days a year at a school next to them.
"Where somebody lives is where somebody chooses to live," Walker said. "Where somebody goes to school is where the school district builds a school."
Bait and switch
Also within NSFOC are those who want the school board held accountable for actions that turned a 58-42 percent defeat in 2005 into a 58-42 percent victory in 2006.
"The referendum failed the first time. Then some sort of firm was hired, and some sort of marketing campaign conducted, in order to sway the voters," said Grassi, stressing that the effort targeted Tall Grass and White Eagle residents under the implication their children would attend the new school on the Brach-Brodie property. "The referendum with the school on 75th and Route 59 succeeded. Then the situation drastically changed. So, if things didn't work out that way - the way that that vote was created - we need a new vote."
Shawn Collins, NSFOC's attorney, questioned whether voters can now believe anything the district says.
"This is the same gang that told us they were going to buy Brach-Brodie if the referendum passed," Collins said. "They broke that promise.
"These are the guys who said, 'Eola-Molitor is too dangerous. We won't buy it.' They broke that promise.
"These are also the guys that said, 'We're confident we're going to win the condemnation case,' and they got their heads handed to them. Everything that's important that has come out of their mouths has not been correct," he said.
Dollars and cents
There are others who are worried about the bottom line, Collins said.
NSFOC is but one of two lawsuits District 204 is now facing. The Brach-Brodie trust is expected to seek damages in excess of $20 million for the district's decision to abandon its condemnation suit, and not buy the remaining 55-acre portion of the property it originally selected for the jury-determined price of $31 million.
"Why wouldn't a responsible organization say, 'You know what? Time out. We don't know what Eola-Molitor costs right now. Until Judge Killander in DuPage County in the condemnation case says what the Brach-Brodie owners are really entitled to, we can't really tell you what the real cost of Eola-Molitor is, and we better stop until a court gives that decision,'" Collins said.
"... If a court gives Brach-Brodie everything that they wanted, just the simple math says that Eola-Molitor will be significantly more expensive than Brach-Brodie," he added. "... And then, when you factor in the environmental questions, which are never going to be favorably solved, you've gotta ask yourself what is wrong with these people? What are they thinking about?"
Too late?
While many have been quick to assign sinister motives to NSFOC's work, Collins was comfortable doing the same with regard to District 204. He called the district a "ready, shoot, aim operation" driven by a "false deadline" of August 2009, and said it was rushing "headlong into digging dirt and pouring concrete at Eola-Molitor" because it wants to end discussion on the whole matter.
"What they want to be able to say is ... 'It's too late. Stop asking us questions. Stop questioning what we've done. The money has been spent. It is gone. Get in line, or be quiet. There's nothing more we can do. The decision has been made,'" Collins said.
Grassi insisted that NSFOC exists to keep this from happening.
"We demand those answers for safety, fiscal responsibility and accountability," she said. "And, until those are answered, we don't know how the board can move ahead."
Sometimes silence is golden!!!! Speak when it is necessary to speak and will make meaningful impact. I know that is the position of the couple in Cambridge Chase. Just hung up with a friend in Wildflower and she says that both her neighbors are planning to get involved with NSFOC and she will talk with her husband tonight about their involvement if any. Looks like the numbers are growing by the day.