RE: [Winona] Remodeling of high school

[Anne Morse]

[Winona Online Democracy]

Re: the WSHS remodeling question, here are my bona fides:  I listen carefully, I care deeply, and I worked my tail off on the last successful referendum.  Ergo, please listen, as I am invested in this school district.   It is astonishing that there is a proposal on the table to break up the concourse and close off the south hallway with offices.  If Dwayne’s assertions are wrong, I am much relieved.  If they are accurate, then I beg the administration to reconsider. Phil is right, the beautiful day-lit concourse is a treasure, and we should try extremely hard to maintain it, as is.  While the proposal, as I understand it, leaves the west part of the glass wall open, closing off the east half would effectively destroy what is now a panorama of unparalleled beauty.  And to replace the grassy area heavily used by students with a parking lot only adds insult to injury, when sufficient, though more remote, parking already exists.   Many have been the hours my husband and I have stood in line in the concourse, waiting to discuss our son’s academic progress with his teachers. As we waited, the unbroken character of the east-to-west panorama, comprised of the fields, the lake and the soaring limestone bluffs, provides perhaps the most publicly accessible example of Winona’s stunning beauty. While the impact on our children is likely less conscious, caught up as they are in socializing, it can not be argued that they, too, are not affected.   I count administrators within the district as friends, and respect and appreciate them for the work they do under exceedingly difficult circumstances.  I am also only too aware that the failure of the most recent referendum requires us to make difficult choices. Joliene is absolutely right – none of them are pleasant.    Our sad economic reality, however, does not in itself provide justification for this particular proposal and it’s attendant changes.  Frankly, while I understand the desire to have offices in that location - it’s no doubt the most scenic spot for offices – it obviously comes at an enormous cost to our students and staff.  Dare I say that it even seems selfish?  And it comes with a price tag of more than one million dollars?   This proposal just seems wrong to me. So I wonder, is the work of the committee that advanced this proposal open and available to the public?  Apparently, there were other options considered and then discarded.  I would like to know what those alternatives were, and why they were found wanting.  Perhaps then it would all make more sense to me, and I could support it. Can anyone within the administration oblige?     Many thanks to Dwayne Voegeli for bringing this matter, albeit with impassioned rhetoric, to the public’s attention.  The apparent lack of openness and candor throughout the process is distressing.  It’s time for quite a bit more sun to shine on this affair.    Anne Morse         -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joliene Olson Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 11:18 AM To: Online Democracy Subject: [Winona] Remodeling of high school   Is anyone listening??  Does anyone care??  No they don't----- until a decision is made that doesn't meet their idea of a correct decision.   Case in point.  The current changes being discussed and decisions being made to deal with the need to CUT ANOTHER $2MILLION dollars from an already decimated school budget.   As Paul Double said, (probably more of a paraphrase)  'the community did vote on these decisions.  They said do what you need to do because we are NOT going to give you any more money'.   I said it before and I will say it again!!  What do you expect the school board and the administrators to do???   None of the decisions being made now are decisions that any of them want to make.  All of them are going to hurt kids, disrupt views, or any number of other ugly results.   They have been given, by this community, a big bag of lemons.  The only thing they can do is try to make a weak, slightly sour batch of lemonade out of them.  There is no sugar available.   Joliene Olson

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