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Morgan,

I would like to suggest that you do a story on school construction in Forsyth County and compare it to Guilford County. Forsyth County can build nice schools for 1/2 the cost of Guilford County.

That's the problem.

I am actually finishing up a story that looks at that (particularly Reagan High).

My daughter played tennis at Reagan the other week and afterwards she told me that it was really nice Campus. I did not ask her, she just came out with it.

Wasnt Reagan High quite low cost compared to our costs?

When you look at construction in Guilford County, you have to keep a few things in mind. New schools are built with 100% borrowed money. We seem to be unable to use any current revenues for that purpose. Most people/organizations tone down their wants when they have to borrow all the money. That seems reasonable to me. Second, keeping up with the Jones's is a very dangerous thing. Wake and Mecklenbury is growing at three times the rate of Guilford County. I wish Guilford was a wealthy county, but it is not. We must face this fact. The tax rate in Greensboro is very high. If it goes higher, people will locate elsewhere. This means we will find it more difficult to pay the bills of government. Already, how teachers are the highest paid in the state. Having the best buildings would be nice but there is not enough money to do everything. Notice, how colleges get along fine with the use of old buildings. Why does the school system have to tear every buildings over 50 years down.

Joe, I understand you and agree that this is a serious challenge the district and taxpayers are facing. My only point is that if you really look at the financial landscape of America, you find similar attitudes about money. For example, look at the whole subprime mortgage spectacle where thousands of people borrowed with 0-down, NINJA, APR or interest only loans. This type of irresponsibility was validated on every rung of the financial ladder, from the homebuyer to the lender to the government itself. And in places like southern California, people borrowed half a million dollars or more for homes with no hopes of repaying the balance (yet you say people tone down their wants?). Public officials represent the communities they come from and if everyone could be frugal on a consistent basis in both their private and public lives, you would probably see more of that in the public domain as well.

You are right that keeping up with the Joneses can be a dangerous thing because no one can truly predict whether the income will exist 20-30 years from now to pay off the debts (otherwise we wouldn't have a thing called bankruptcy). Yes, Mecklenburg may be rolling in revenues generated from the banking industry there, but if a prolonged recession occurs, can the cities in and around that mushroomed overnight sustain all the people who moved there? A perfect sign of the times: government willing to give incentive packages to businesses even if they lay off workers. That's how desperate this state is for business.

Well we definitely do not want "craftsmanship" in our schools if the undisciplined kids are allowed to ruin the school.

I don't understand your point about the buyer of a home who inherits the inflated value and the higher tax value. No one made them by this particular home so hopefully they can afford the higher value. If no one buys the home the "market" will drive the price back down.

Actually I would not worry about these bond issues because they should all be defeated in due time.

Everyone should thank their lucky stars that this Board does not have taxing authority. That would inspire people to live in smaller homes or move out of the County

Morgan,

If you want some intelligent comment and feedback on this strand, perhaps you should provide a short summary of your position. I'm not sure that I really fully understand your point, and I'm really having a hard time following your analogies and justifications. Are you advocating for the school bonds here?

Morgan, I would not advocate for Walmart style boxes either but I cannot agree with extravagance.

The Board also take the the stance that this is the cost of business these days but he indicators that the general public have is that other school systems build lower cost nice functional schools.

Why cant anyone show us proof contrary?

Wally World, et al.
I don't have a position on the school bond, either personally or professionally. But as a reporter, I try to see education issues from both sides, meaning asking critical questions of education officials who are responsible for taxpayer money and asking critical questions of the public who elect their representatives. I have heard people refer to Northern as a "Taj Mahal" by many people in the public. My question for the public is what makes the school a Taj Mahal? The price itself?

Statman, what would you consider extravagance in Guilford County Schools? Do you have some examples? I have also toured Reagan High School. It is a nice school, but keep in mind that the two-year-old school has already outgrown earlier projections and is set to get a 20-classroom addition.

I personally dont know if Northern is extravagant. But I do hear that Reagon cost less.

I would like a comparison of both features and costs of Reagon and Northern.

There is something to be said for building new large schools in two phases. Looke at Northern Middle. Last Spring it was about 25% full. This fall, it is about 60% full. Millions of dollars of construction sits unused for a few years. Building Reagan in two phases makes sense to me. One of things that bothers a lot of people is that we have a lot of under-utilized facilities. In most districts, the BOE would re-district to take advantage of the under-utilized facilities. But not in Guilford County, they sit empty while we are draging in Modulars at 80k each.

Northern Middle is 98% full- not 60%! They have about 835 kids, capacity is 850. Look for trailers next year. The attendance zone is too big for this school! NW is still over crowded, but by only around 90 kids. NE? Who knows! I don't think they were overcrowded last year. They were on the bond and got an expansion. Poor planning as usual.

Northern HS is at 466 for 9 and 10th graders, with 2/3 of that being 9th. They prediced 392-- we are only 20% over that the first year. Look for 1200 by 2010.

Morgan,

Reagan was designed with an additional wing in the plans to be added when it was needed. Atkins was built at the same time with the same design. The rapid growth in the Pffaftown area that is served by Reagan has dictated the additional wing be built. Growth in the Atkins area has not indicated the need for the wing. I believe that Forsyth approved $5 million in 2006 for the additional wing, which would bring the total cost of Reagan to about $30 million, still far short of the cost of Northern. Atkins can be expanded at such time as growth requires, but they are smart not to have millions invested when the need isn't there. It would seem that Forsyth is demonstrating foresight and common sense in its school construction.

Everyone that I have talked to about Northern describes it as opulent. From what I hear Reagan is nicely done, and it cost no more than 2/3 the cost of Northern. You say do we want craftsmanship in our schools. Craftsman is a synonym for artisan or artist, which implies skilled at an applied art. So, the answer that I would give is that what we need are schools that are functional and safe, not built by artists. I know that makes me parsimonious, but I just know that we can build schools that would serve the purpose for a much lesser drain on citizens and taxpayers' finances. Forsyth can and has done it. Guilford could it as well, if they had the desire to do so.

What double standard? The citizens of Guilford County expect their tax dollars to be spent wisely, not wasted. We want solid, comfortable schools, not monuments to excess. What's so bad about that?

The problem is that the Guilford County Board of Education has done a terrible job in recent years with our tax money. Look at the recent construction debacle at Smith High School. Or look at the price tags of Northern High compared with the new schools over in Forsyth County. Not to mention the fact that bond money has been spent to build half-empty schools, while schools in other parts of the county remain horribly overcrowded.

If the public trust isn't there, the school board has no one to blame but themselves. No one should vote for any more school bonds until we get a more responsible school board.

How about this one; I am a life long resident of Greensboro,the people of Guilford County deserve what they get. When Election time comes the same faces return, yet everyone complains. What is that old saying about doing the same thing and expecting different result. If The "Gate City", see how many know what that is, were not my home I would be gone too.

Everybody says no more bonds till we have a better BOE. (i.e. a Board who can build something for nothing). Last year five Board seats were up for election. Two were vacated by the incumbent, but only six people in all of Guilford County filed for election. Why? perhaps because it is a difficult, complex, time consuming and largely thankless task.

Most of the problems you mentioned would go away if we had BOE members with core values, goals and a desire to make the changes necessary to get the job done. Our BOE does not use staff properly. It does not support staff when they are right. Most of the time, the BOE listens to the citizen on the street that may know little or nothing about the issue at hand. 55 other districts in NC have a BOE that can do better than ours. We have to have a BOE that understands that they are the problem not lack of money. We don't all the money we want, but we get more than most other counties. There is plenty to do better than we are now. It can happen.

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