[Winona Online Democracy]
Title: Attempting to answer Pat Moline's
question
Our
children, our treasure
ADVERTISEMENT
By
Kelly Herold / Winona
.
I believe this November our community will invest in our children and
support the teachers and staff who dedicate their lives to helping our
children shine. Witnessing our treasures perform at concerts, FFA
functions, science projects and this past Sunday at the Steamboat Days
parade is humbling. While standing in the hot sun sharing a sticky
frozen fruit pop with my 15-month-old daughter, I saw more evidence
that Winona is a great place to raise a family: thousands of families
affirming our strong sense of community pride. Year after year, we
witness our children playing sports, dancing, acting, singing or doing
well academically. At these times, our entire community's spirit is
lifted while rooting us deeper in our love of this community.
Witnessing the educational growth of our children helps us reflect on
our values and our hope for the future. So with Alma sitting on my
shoulders, drooling her frozen pop-up down my neck, the obvious
occurred to me: Those children performing under those band uniforms
are our treasures. Our investment in those uniforms, instruments,
teachers and the tools needed to help our students learn to read,
write, think and perform is money well spent.
Planning for 2025
As a steward of the community's dollars, I believe that planning with
an eye on the future is important. Effective and efficient investments
are needed to help our children compete with the rest of the world. We
need to go beyond Cadillac versus Chevy analogies as we plan for the
next generation of students. (Note about a month ago, GM's lack of
such vision resulted in their stock being assigned junk status and
they now have to lay off 25,000 workers). We can't afford poor
planning, falling behind or financial disaster. For the first time in
many years, the school board is planning for the future through
facilities review and capital improvements.
A step in the right direction
The sale of the Lincoln building and related capital planning
decisions provided the district with $1,523,000 that can be used to
take the first step toward addressing the many needs of ISD 861. The
most glaring needs are the WSHS library-media center, coupled with the
need for a centralized administration. Our relocation plan uses this
money more efficiently to address those needs than any plan proposed
to the board.
I want to explain where the money came from: $700,000 came from the
sale of Lincoln building; $350,000 from the interest earnings from
Winona Middle School bond proceeds; $60,000 from federal entitlement
funds; $23,000 from one-day bond proceeds; $160,000 from
reimbursements on the WSHS water damage and asbestos removal; $100,000
from restricted fund balance for capital projects; and $130,000 from
operating capital allocations.
Does relocating administration save money?
Yes, consider these savings over a 10-year period totaling
$750,000:
* $350,000 - Lincoln's operational cost
($35,000 per year)
* $400,000 -
Buildings/grounds office to WSHS ($20,000 per year reduction in
secretarial costs and $20,000 per year of operational savings)
In addition, Lincoln would have cost us an arm and leg to
maintain:
* $200,000 for roof repair, boiler and tuck
pointing, and
* $2 million
to bring the building to code.
Will money be spent on educational needs?
Yes, most of it will be spent on children. Approximately $700,000 will
be spent to update the library-media center. Last year, WSHS students
only checked out 1,000 books from our part-time library. Something is
wrong. Knowing the library is the heart of a school, it is obvious our
library needs a transfusion. Our media center is equally inadequate.
Remodeling the library/media center so it is on one floor enables one
person to staff the entire library/media center rather than the
two-person staff currently needed. The staff savings in the
operational budget would equal the total cost of the project
($700,000) in less than 10 years.
How much is
spent on relocating staff?
The concourse plan relocates all Lincoln administrative staff at a
construction cost of approximately $447,000, and at $44.24 per square
foot our plan is responsible. Just compare our plan to the
"least" expensive $70 per square foot the county board is
considering for the relocation of its staff.
Thanks for your input
Finally, to plan ahead we must consider and respect our local history,
and we depend on data as well as community input. So we want to thank
the supporters of our schools, our students, teachers, parents and all
others for their input. We appreciate the spirited give and take. As a
result, decisions we make about our district's educational future are
examined more carefully. For example, we realize the need to minimize
the impact of the relocation plan on the concourse, and we'll do our
best to address those concerns. Finally, we look forward to working
with you as we come together to support our bands, athletic teams,
science, math departments, etc., and to provide the tools needed to
help our treasures shine.
Kelly Herold represents District 4 on the Winona Area Public Schools
board. He is an associate professor in the Department of Communication
Studies at Winona State University.
--
Kelly Herold, PhD
Associate Professor of Communication Studies
Winona State University
Winona, MN
55987
507 - 457 - 5242
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy
All messages must be signed by the senders actual name.
No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list.
To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit
http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona
Any problems or suggestions can be directed to
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at
http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
